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4 

RURAL  CHURCH   LIFE 
IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


BENSON  Y.  LANDIS 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

LIBHARY, 

tLOS  ANGELES^.  CAUF, 


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RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE  IN 
THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


COMMITTEE   ON  SOCIAL  AND   RIJJGIOUS  SUR\EYS 

TOWN     AND    COUNTRY    DEPARTMENT 

Edmund   deS.    ]>runner,   Director 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE  IN 
THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY 

CLAY  COUNTY,  IOWA  AND  JENNINGS  COUNTY,  INDIANA 

WITH  COMPARATI\  E  DATA  FROM  STUDIES  OF 

THIRTY-FHE  MIDDLE  WESTERN  COUNTIES 


BY 


BENSON  Y.  LANDIS 


WITH     ILLUSTRATIONS 
MAPS    AND    CHARTS 


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47761 

NEW  ^SS^  YORK 

GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT,     1922, 
BY    GEORGE     H.     DORAN    COMPANY 


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PREFACE 


<^         f    I    ^ITE  Committee  on  vSocial  and  Religious  Surveys  was  organ- 
fo  I        ized  in  Jantiary,  1921.     Its  aim  is  to  coml)ine  the  scientific 

-*-       method    with    the    rehgious    motive.      I'he    Committee    con- 
.^         ducts  and  pubHshes  studies  and  surveys  and  promotes  conferences 
for   their   consideration.      It   cooperates   w^ith   other   social   and    re- 
ligious agencies,  but  is  itself  an  independent  organization. 

The    Committee    is    composed    of:     John    R.    ]ylott,    Chairman; 
Ernest    D.    Burton,    Secretary ;    Raymond    B.    Fosdick,    Treasurer ; 
James  L.  ISarton  and  \\\  H.  P.  Faunce.     Galen  M.  Fisher  is  Asso- 
ciate Executive   Secretary.     The  offices  are  at   111    Fifth  Avenue, 
^New  York  City. 

In  the  field  of  town  and  country  the  Connnittee  sought  first  of 
all  to  conserve  some  of  the  results  of  the  surveys  made  by  the  Inter- 
church  World  Movement.  In  order  to  verify  some  of  these  surveys, 
it  carried  on  field  studies,  described  later,  along  regional  lines  worked 
out  by  Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson  *  and  adopted  by  the  Interchurch 
World  Movement.     These  regions  are  : 

I.  Colonial  States :  All  of  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  Jersey. 

II.  The  South:  All  the  States  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line 
and  the  Ohio  River  east  of  the  Mississippi,  including  Louisiana. 

III.  The  Southern  Highlands  Section  :  This  section  comprises 
about  250  counties  in  "The  Back  yards  of  eight  Southern  States." 

IV.  The  Middle  West:  The  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  northern  IMissouri. 

V.  Northwest:  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota  and 
Eastern  Montana. 

VL    Prairie :  Oklahoma,  Kansas  and  Nebraska. 

VII.  Southwest:  Southern  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Texas. 

VIII.  Range  or  Mountain:  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  Colo- 
rado, Idaho,  Wyoming,  Nevada  and  western  ^lontana. 

The  Director  of  the  Town  and  Country  Survey  Department  for 
the  Interchurch  ^^''orld  ?\lovement  was  Edmund  deS.  Brunner.  He 
is  likewise  the  Director  of  tliis  Department  for  the  Committee  on 
Social  and  Religious  Surveys. 

*  See  Wilson,  "Sectional  Characteristics,"  Iloiiiclaiids.  Augnst,   1920. 

v 


PREFACE 

Jennings  County,  Indiana,  was  surveyed  originally  under  the 
supervision  of  Rev.  Marion  C.  Bishop,  of  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement.  The  field  work  was  done  by  Miss  Martha  Robison 
of  the  County  Church  Department  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Home  Missions. 

The  first  survey  of  Clay  County,  Iowa,  was  conducted  under 
Professor  George  H.  Von  Tungeln,  State  Survey  Supervisor  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement,  and  Miss  Etta  J\I.  Smith,  County 
Leader.  In  1921,  Mr.  Benson  Y.  Landis,  field  worker  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Social  and  Religious  Surveys,  visited  these  counties, 
brought  the  studies  tip  to  date  and  secured  missing  information. 
In  this  task,  valuable  assistance  was  rendered  in  Clay  County  by 
Tyliss  Etta  Smith,  now  County  Superintendent  of  Schools;  and  in 
lennings  County  by  the  Indiana  State  Federation  of  Churches, 
whose  secretary,  Rev.  Erank  Merrick,  spent  several  days  assisting 
in  the  investijr'tion. 

Valuable  help  was  given  by  the  Home  Missions  Council ;  by  the 
Council  of  Women  for  Home  Missions  through  their  sub-Com- 
mittee on  Town  and  Country,  and  Ijy  a  Committee  appointed  jointly 
by  the  Home  Missions  Council  and  the  Eederal  Council  of  Churches 
for  the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  the  Committee  on  Social  and 
Religious  Surveys  in  endeavoring  to  translate  the  results  of  the 
survey  into  action.  The  members  of  this  Joint  Committee  on 
Utilizing  Surveys  are : 

Re f" resell fi)i(j  the  Federal  Coniw'tl  of  Churehes 
Anna  Clark  C.  N.  Lathrop 

Roy  B.  Guild  U.  L.  Mackey 

A.  E.  Holt  A.  E.  Roberts 

F.  Ernest  Johnson  Ered  B.  Smith 

Charles  E.  Schaeffer 

Representing  iJie  Home  Missions  Couneil  and   the  Conned  of 
JJ^ojnen  for  Home  Missions 
L.  C.  Barnes,  Chairman 
Rodney  \\'.  Roundy,  Secretary 
Alfred  W.  Anthony  Rolvix  Harlan 

Mrs.  Ered  S.  Bennett  R.  A.  Hutchinson 

C.  A.  Brooks  Florence  E.  Ouinlan 

C.  E.  Burton  W.  P.  Shriver 

A.  E.  Cory  Paul  L.  Vogt 

David  D.  Forsyth  W^arren  H.  Wilson 

Vi 


INTRODUCTION 

THE    I'OIXT    OF    VIEW 

THIS  book  is  a  study  of  the  work  of  Protestant  town  and 
country  churches  in  two  counties  in  the  Middle  West.  Its 
purpose  is  to  show  the  effect  of  prosperity  upon  the  life  of 
the  Church  by  describing  the  interaction  of  the  Church  upon  these 
conmiunities  and  of  these  communities  upon  the  Church,  'i'his  sur- 
vey, therefore,  does  not  attempt  to  deal  directly  with  the  spiritual 
effect  of  any  church  upon  the  life  of  individuals  or  groups.  Such 
results  are  not  measurable  by  the  foot  rule  of  statistics  or  by  survey 
methods.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  weigh  the  concrete  accomplish- 
ments of  churches.  These  actual  achievements  are  their  fruits  and 
"by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

The  two  counties  studied  in  this  book  are  Jennings,  Indiana, 
and  Clay,  Iowa.  Many  considerations  entered  into  their  choice. 
For  one  thing,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  I'jook,  while  com- 
plete  in  itself,  is  also  part  of  a  larger  whole.  From  among  the  one 
thousand  county  surveys  completed  or  nearly  completed  by  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement,  twenty-six  counties,  situated  in  the 
nine  most  representative  rural  regions  of  America,  were  selected 
for  intensive  study.  In  this  way  it  was  hoped  to  obtain  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  religious  situation  as  it  exists  in  the  more  rural  areas 
of  the  United  States.  All  the  counties  selected  were  chosen  with 
the  idea  that  they  were  fair  s]:)ecimens  of  what  was  to  be  found 
throughout  the  area  of  which  they  are  a  part. 

In  selecting  the  counties  an  effort  was  made  to  discover  those 
which  were  tyi)ical  not  merely  from  a  statistical  standpoint  but 
also  from  the  social  and  religious  ])rol)k'ms  they  represented.  For 
example,  the  two  counties  in  the  ^Middle  West  described  in  this 
pamphlet  were  chosen  because  they  are  representative  of  large  sec- 
tions throughout  this  area. 

It  is  recognized  that  there  are  reasons  why  exceptions  may  be 
taken  to  the  choice  of  counties.  No  area  is  completely  typical  of 
every  situation.  A  careful  study  of  these  comities,  however,  leads 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  are  fair  specimens  of  the  region  they  are 
intended  to  represent. 

vii 


INTRODUCTION 

All  these  studies  have  been  made  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
Church  recognizing,  however,  that  social  and  economic  conditions 
affect  its  life.  For  instance,  it  is  evident  that  various  racial  groups 
influence  church  life  differently.  Germans  and  Swedes  usually 
tend  toward  liturgical  denominations ;  the  Scotch  to  non-liturgical. 
Again,  if  there  is  economic  pressure  and  heavy  debt,  the  Church 
faces  spiritual  handicaps  and  needs  a  peculiar  type  of  ministry. 
Because  of  the  importance  of  social  and  economic  factors  in  the 
life  of  the  Church  the  opening  chapters  of  this  book  have  been 
devoted  to  a  description  of  these  factors.  At  the  first  glance  some 
of  these  facts  may  apjiear  irrelevant,  but  upon  closer  observation 
will  be  found  to  have  a  bearing  upon  the  main  theme — the  problem 
of  the  Church. 

Naturally  the  greatest  amount  of  time  and  study  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  churches  themselves ;  their  history,  equipment  and 
finances  ;  their  members,  services  and  church  organizations  ;  their 
Sunday  schools,  young  societies  and  community  programs,  have  all 
been  carefully  investigated  and  evaluated. 

Intensive  investigation  has  been  limited  to  the  distinctly  rural 
areas  and  to  those  centers  of  population  which  have  less  than  five 
thousand  inhabitants.  In  the  case  of  towns  larger  than  this  an 
effort  has  been  made  to  measure  the  service  of  such  towns  to  the 
surrounding  countryside,  but  not  to  study  each  church  and  com- 
munity in  detail. 

The  material  in  this  book  itself  will  present  a  composite  picture 
of  the  religious  conditions  within  these  two  counties.  The  ap- 
pendices present  the  methodology  of  the  survey  and  the  definitions 
employed.  They  also  include  in  tabular  form  the  major  facts  of 
each  county  as  revealed  l)y  the  investigation.  These  appendices 
are  intended  especially  to  meet  the  needs  of  church  executives,  and 
students  of  sociology  who  desire  to  carry  investigation  further  than 
is  possible  in  the  type  of  presentation  used  for  the  main  portion  of 
the  book. 


vni 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     COMMUNITY  LIFE  IX  THE  "VALLEY  OF  DE- 
MOCRACY"            15 

Clay  County,  Iowa 19 

Jennings  County,  Indiana 24 

II     ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TENDENCIES       .        .  28 

The  Cooperative  Movement 28 

Land  Speculation  and  Farm  Tenancy     ...  32 

Consolidation  of  Schools 36 

Interest  in   Public   Health 39 

More  and  Better  Libraries 40 

Social  and  Recreational  Organization   ...  42 

III  THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  PEOPLE   ....  47 

Standing  of  the  Churches 47 

— — The  Church  in  the  Community         ....  54 

Pastoral   Leadership 58 

Church  Parish  and  Community  Boundary     .        .  62 
-Churches  of  Distinction 65 

IV  CONCLUSIONS  AND   RECO.MMENDATIONS       .  69 

\\Tiat  the  Church  Can  Do 69 

APPENDICES 

I     Methodology  and  Definitions  .        ...  17 

II     Tables        . 81 

III     Par  Study  of  the  Churches       ....  86 


IX 


ILLUSTRATIONS,   MAPS  AND  CHARTS 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  Typical  Hoaie  in  the  Corn  Belt 

Good  Roads  are  an  Asset  to  the  Farmer  of  the  Corn  Belt 

Iowa  Home  Products    .... 

A  Snug  Parsonage       .... 

B.  &  O.  Station,  North  Vernon,  Jennings  Counts 

Rectory  of  St.  Joseph's  Roman  Catholic  Church,  May 

DEN,  Jennings  County   . 
M.  E.  Church,  Fostoria,  Clay  County 
Cooperation  in  Full  Swing 
Where  New  York  Gets  Its  Butter  . 
Ownership  and  Tenancy   . 
"Credit"  to  the  Community 
Relics  of  the  Past       .... 
The  Little  Red  Schoolhouse  Superseded 
The  Public  School  at  Royal,  Clay  County 
A  Boon  to  the  Community 
Wonder  What  Make  These  Cars  Are? 
One  of  the  Six  Roman  Catholic  Churches  in  Jenning 

County        

No  Room  Except  for  Preaching 

A  Picturesque  Building     .... 

A  Good  Type  of  Parsonage  in  Clay  County 

The  Church  Home  of  Prosperous  Immigrants 

What  the  Right  Pastor  Can  Do 

An  Example  of  a  One-room  Church  Building 


18 
19 
21 
22 

25 

26 

29 
30 
31 
i.^ 
35 
3,7 
38 
39 
41 
43 

48 
54 
57 
61 
63 
67 
71 


MAPS 

Indiana  and  Iowa.  Locating  Jennings  and  Clay  Counties  17 

Church  and  Community  Map  of  Clay  County,  Iowa         .  45 
Church    and    Community    Map    of    Jennings    County, 

Indiana 46 


XI 


ILLUSTRATIONS,  MAPS  AND  CHARTS 
CHARTS 

PAGE 

I     Church  Members  in  Population         ....  48 
II     Number  of  Churches  Gaining  and  Losing  in  One 

Year  Period 49 

III  Relation  of  Size  of  Church  Membership  to  Gain  49 

IV  Residence  and  Activity  of  Church  Members  .        .  50 
V     How  THE  Church  Dollar  Is  Raised  ....  52 

VI     How  THE  Church  Dollar  Is  Expended     ...  53 

VII     Frequency  of  Church  Services 55 

VIII     Number  of  Pastorates  During  Past  Ten  Years     .  58 
IX     Thirty-three    Protestant     Churches     Classified 

According  to  Residence  of  Ministers  .        .      ■ .  59 

X     Salary  Scale  of  the  Ministers 60 


Xll 


RURAL  CHURCH   LIFE   IN 
THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


RURAL  CHURCH    LIFE  IN 
THE  MIDDLE  WEST 


CHAPTER  I 
Community  Life  in  the  "Valley  of  Democracy" 

SOAIE  call  the  Middle  \\'est  the  greater  and  others  tlie  real 
America.  John  Jl.  h'inley  says  it  is  "in  more  than  one  sense, 
the  heart  of  America,"  and  he  has  called  it  the  'A'alley  of 
the  New  Democracy."  *  Meredith  Nicholson  writes  glowingly  of 
the  'A'alley  of  Democracy."'  To  E.  L.  Masters  it  is  "The  Great 
Valley."  Compared  with  other  regions  the  Middle  West  is  un- 
doubtedly typically  American.  The  early  settlers  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  imitated  European  standards  in  community  and  church 
life,  but  the  mass  of  settlers  who  swejjt  into  the  Middle  A\'est  fol- 
lowed precedent  little  and  built  towns  and  institutions  of  their  own. 
Here  are  the  real  .Americans  in  greatest  numl)ers,  the  men  and 
women  who  inherited  from  their  pioneer  ancestors  those  outstand- 
ing traits  for  which  the  American  is  famous. 

The  term  Middle  \\^est  has  many  meanings.  The  region  ])lays 
a  considerable  part  in  directing  the  nation's  thinking.  Its  com- 
munities are  known  for  their  s])irit  of  ])rogressiveness,  their  friend- 
liness, their  "we-feeling."  It  is  our  largest  and  most  prosperous 
agricultural  section,  l^^rom  it  have  come  most  of  the  important 
agricultural  movements  of  our  history  and  the  majority  of  our  agri- 
cultural leaders.  It  is  called  the  X'alley  of  the  New  Democracy  be- 
cause here  have  been  carried  on  some  of  the  pioneer  experiments 
in  popular  government  in  the  nation.  Here  were  built  up  the  first 
state  governments  with  real  machinery  to  serve  the  people.  The 
farmer-legislators  led  the  way  in  establishing  the  large  state  uni- 
versities and  colleges  for  agriculture,  with  instructions  to  serve  the 
people  in  the  most  practical  way.  I'>:)llowing  out  the  ideal  of  en- 
deavoring to  give  the  best  m  education  to  the  last  man  and  the  last 
woman  on  the  last  farm,  the  universities  have  carried  on  vigorous 

*  "The  French  in  llu'  Heart  of  America,"  by  Joliii   H.   I'inley. 

15 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IX  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

programs  of  extension,  until  the  privileges  of  the  state  university 
are  at  least  as  near  as  every  farmer's  mail  box.  Moral  idealism, 
says  Prof.  E.  A.  Ross  in  "Changing  America,"  was  the  moving 
force  among  the  first  colonists  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic;  social 
idealism  is  the  force  which  is  most  manifest  among  the  people  in 
the  .Aliddle  West. 

The  region  has,  of  course,  no  boundaries,  but  for  practical  pur- 
poses and  as  a  good  workable  unit,  with  fairly  uniform  characteris- 
tics, many  denominational  and  home  mission  executives  define  as 
the  Middle  \\'est  the  six  states  of  ( )hio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois, 
\\^isconsin  and  Iowa.  This  definition  is  accepted  for  purposes  of 
the  present  study. 

To-day  most  of  it  is  a  part  of  America's  great  industrial  zone, 
whose  boundaries  run  west  of  Minneapolis,  south  to  include  St. 
Louis,  then  east  to  the  Atlantic  to  take  in  \\'ashington,  D.  C.  Here 
are  the  majority  of  the  largest  cities,  more  than  half  the  people  of 
the  nation,  most  of  the  wealth,  and  three-fourths  of  the  foreign 
population. 

Once  these  Middle  Western  states  were  classed  as  "predom- 
inantly agricultural."  They  are  so  no  longer.  The  preliminary 
reports  on  the  1920  census  show  that  here,  as  in  the  nation,  more 
people  were  gainfully  employed  in  manufacture  than  in  agriculture. 
Only  in  Iowa,  where  farming  was  found  to  engage  42  per  cent  of 
the  state's  workers,  was  agriculture  in  the  lead.  In  Illinois  the 
proportion  of  earners  who  were  farmers  was  19  per  cent,  the  lowest 
record  of  any  of  this  group  of  states.  But  if  there  had  never  been 
a  Middle  \\"est  with  its  cattle  and  grain  there  would  never  have 
been  a  St.  Paul,  a  Chicago  or  even  a  \A'all  Street  as  big  as  it  is.  So 
contends  the  Middle  \\Vsterner  with  ]')ride — and  with  some  justifi- 
cation. 

Thomas  Nixon  Carver  says,  in  speaking  of  most  of  these  states: 
"The  corn  belt  is  the  most  considerable  area  in  the  world  in  which 
agriculture  is  uniformly  prosperous.  The  people  engaged  in  the 
corn-growing  industry  are  an  independent,  progressive  class,  draw- 
ing their  sustenance  from  the  soil  and  not  from  other  people."  * 
Farming  is  diversified  though  based  on  corn  growing.  Nine-tenths 
of  the  corn  is  fed  to  cattle.  Oats,  wheat,  milk,  eggs,  fruit  and 
vegetables  are  also  produced  in  large  quantities.  Half  of  the 
farmers  have  automobiles,  the  proportion  of  farmers  with  one  or 
more  ranging  from  40.2  per  cent  in  Michigan  to  73.1   per  cent  in 

*  From    ]]"orld's   Work,  Dec,   1903,   quoted   in   "Readings   in   Rural    Soci- 
ology," hv   John  Phelan. 


INDIANA 


*yct«/e     cf    Mil^s 


\oy^A 


Det    Mo'ncs 


INDIANA    AND    IOWA 
Locating  Jonnin.cs  and   Clay   Counties 


RURAL  CHURCH  LHE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

Iowa.  Only  in  the  Northwest  are  there  proportionately  more  auto- 
mobiles on  farms.  These  states  have  more  pure-bred  livestock  than 
any  other  region.  The  average  farm  has  116  acres,  compared  with 
the  average  of  148  for  the  nation.  The  improved  acreage  per  farm 
is,  however,  ninety  compared  to  seventy-eight  for  the  country.  One 
farmer  in  seven  is  foreign-born,  the  ]\Iiddle  West  standing  fourth 
highest  among  the  nine  regions  in  this  respect.  Foreign-born 
farmers  come  mainly  from  Germany,  Canada,  Sweden,  Norway, 
Denmark  and  Austria,  in  the  order  named.  Isolation  is  gone  from 
farm  homes  in  the  ?\Hddle  West.  The  population  density  is  more 
than  two  and  one-half  times  the  average  of  the  nation.     The  rural 


.j^ 


'ysr-  'Ji-  ;  ," 


A   TYPICAL    HOME   IN   THE   CORN    BELT 


delivery,  the  telephone,  the  aut()mol)ile,  the  social  and  economic  or- 
ganizations, the  division  of  land  into  smaller  farms,  have  all  helped 
to  banish  loneliness  which  was  the  lot  of  the  men  and  women  in 
generations  past. 

The  Middle  \\'est  has  probably  as  many  strong  town  and  coun- 
try churches  to-day  as  any  other  region  of  the  United  States.  At 
least  it  has  our  largest  churches.  As  a  result  of  surveys  of  thirty- 
five  midwestern  counties,  457  rural  communities  and  1,368 
churches,  it  is  possible  to  make  some  comparison  with  extensive 
church  surveys  of  other  regions.  In  the  Middle  \\'est  there  is  one 
town  and  country  church  for  every  509  people.  The  interdenomina- 
tional organizations  reconmicnd  an  ideal  of  one  Protestant  church 
to  every  1,000  ]^eople.  Four  out  of  the  nine  regions,  into  which  for 
purposes  of  survey  the  United  States  was  divided,  on  the  average 
come  close  to  that  figure  or  reach  it.  The  Middle  West  stands  as 
middle  ground  between  the  overchurched  and  underchurched   sec- 

18 


COMMUNITY   IJIK   IN   THE  "VALLEY  OE   DE.MOC  RACY" 

tions  of  the  country.  Only  24  ])er  cent  of  the  town  and  country 
congregations  have  an  active  memhershi])  of  tvventy-tive  or  less. 
1  his  is  a  lower  percentage  of  small  churches  than  is  found  in  any 
other  region.  Forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  cinirches  have,  however, 
active  memherships  of  less  than  fifty,  although  the  average  church 
has  ninety-three  active  memhers.  This  again  is  a  hetter  showing 
than  that  of  any  other  region.  Only  21  per  cent  of  the  rural 
churches  have  ministers  who  give  their  entire  time  to  only  one 
church.  Four  other  regions  reach  a  higher  proportion.  Thirty- 
nine  per  cent  of  the  rural  communities  have  full-time  resident  pas- 


GOOD    ROADS    ARE    AN    ASSET    TO    THE    FARMER    UF    THE    CORN    BELT 

tors.  In  this  respect  only  one  region,  the  Prairie,  makes  a  better 
record.  The  nvunber  of  ministers  with  some  college  or  seminary 
training  is  only  Zl  per  cent  of  the  total.  Six  regions  either  reach 
or  exceed  this  percentage.  The  number  of  Protestant  church  mem- 
bers is  equal  to  18  per  cent  of  the  population.  Two  other  regions 
have  proportionately  more  peo])le  in  the  churches.  The  ^Middle 
West  excels  all  other  regions  in  the  low  i)roportion  of  its  ministers 
who  follow  other  occupations,  the  figure  being  9.28  per  cent. 


Clay  County,  Iowa 

The  more  ])rospcrous  sections  of  the  IVIiddle  \\Vst  are  repre- 
sented in  this  study  by  the  church  and  community  survey  of  Clay 
County,  Iowa,  which  lies  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  state,  six 

19 


RURAL  CHURCH  IJFE   IN   THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

hours  by  train  from  Des  Moines.  It  is  crossed  by  branches  of  two 
corn-carrying  raih'oads.  In  road  building  it  is  one  of  the  leading 
counties  of  Iowa,  having  expended  $166,000  for  new  w'ork  and 
maintenance  in  1920,  and  having  seventy  miles  of  hard-surfaced 
roads.  The  average  value  of  land  in  1920  was  $218  per  acre,  while 
the  average  for  the  state  was  $200.  Clay  County  is  just  south  of 
the  lake  region  which  has  become  a  surnmer  resort.  With  its 
famous  black  land,  which  never  misses  a  crop,  and  its  rolling  sur- 
face, it  is,  in  physical  characteristics,  a  typical  Iowa  county.  It  was 
settled  soon  after  1850  and  organized  as  a  county  in  1858.  Its 
population  increased  from  fifty-two  people  in  1860  to  13,401  in 
1900.  Its  story  is  one  of  "how  homes  were  built,  farms  marked, 
towns  constructed,  wealth  amassed  and  civilization  established — ■ 
all  in  the  space  of  one  life-time." 

Clay  County  is  one  of  the  ninety  Iowa  counties  which  lost  popu- 
lation between  1900  and  1910.  but  it  quickly  recovered  and  l)y  1920 
the  i)0])ulation  was  more  than  2,000  in  excess  of  the  figures  of  1900. 
There  has  been  some  industrial  development  at  Spencer,  the  county 
seat,  a  town  of  4,800  people,  but  the  gain  is  mainly  accounted  for  by 
the  good  fortune  of  the  ra]:)i(lly  retiring  farmers  in  getting  buyers 
and  tenants  to  take  up  practically  all  the  farms.  Among  the  county's 
15,660  people,  10  per  cent  are  foreign-born,  17  per  cent  native- 
born  of  foreign  parentage  and  11  per  cent  native-born  of  mixed 
parentage.  The  large  majority  are  naturalized.  These  figures  are 
very  nearly  the  same  as  those  for  the  entire  state.  As  in  the  state  as 
a  whole,  Clay  County  has  drawn  most  of  its  immigrants  from  Ger- 
many, Sweden  and  Denmark.  Her  foreign-born  are  thrifty,  patri- 
otic and  prosperous,  the  best  of  farmers  and  citizens.  The  state 
census  for  1915  records  that  2,475  people  in  Clay  County  were  en- 
gaged in  manufacturing,  trade,  professional,  domestic  and  personal 
service,  while  the  rest  were  members  of  the  1,769  farmers'  families. 
The  entire  county,  including  Spencer,  which  is  incorporated  as  a 
city,  is  considered  in  this  survey. 

Clay  County  is  divided  into  twelve  "communities,"  the  "com- 
munity" being  the  trade  area  of  hamlet,  village  or  town.  Each  one 
of  these  has  its  surrounding  group  of  farmers  who  habitually  come 
to  the  trade  center.  Within  the  boundaries  of  this  trade  area  is 
also  found  provision  for  recreation,  religion  and  education,  so  that 
to  a  considerable  degree  the  ])eoi)le  who  are  a  ])art  of  the  trade 
area  also  have  these  other  activities  in  common.  The  map  on  page 
45  shows  the  community  boundaries  with  heavy  broken  lines.  Those 
strips  of  territory  not  included  within  the  bounds  of  one  community 

20 


COMMUNITY  LIFE    IN   TIIK   "VALLEY  OF   I)K.\I()(  RACY" 

are   the  so-called   neutral   .areas   in    which  the    fanners   divide   their 
trade  between  two  centers.      There   was   careful    consultation    with 


7yyi 


■J 
■1 

Coid'tcsy    of    Rural    Sociology    Section. 
Iowa  Stiitc   College   of  Agriculture. 

IOWA   HOME  PRODUCTS 

bankers  and  storekeepers  as  to  the  limits  of  each  community.    Three 
specimen  communities  may  be  used  as  typical  illustrations. 

Everly  is  one  of  the  strong  communities,  with  a  greater  village 
population  than  the  average  and  a  consolidated  school.     Here  the 

21 


RURAL  CHURCH   LIFE   IN  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

farmers  have  not  organized  cooperatives,  but  other  organizations  are 
well  developed.  The  band,  composed  principally  of  young  men, 
frequently  holds  a  community  night  which  is  a  social  affair  for  the 
entire  community.  The  German  club  has  a  building  of  its  own,  and 
to  most  of  the  families  of  the  comnuuiity  is  a  real  social  center. 
Here  are  held  dances  and  socials  as  well  as  the  annual  Farmers' 
Institute.  There  are  four  lodges,  including  one  for  women.  In 
connection  with  the  rest-room  at  the  bank  is  a  pub'.ic  library,  to 
which  one  hundred  volumes  were  donated  l)y  the  ])eople  of  Everly, 
while  an  equal  number  is  brought  in  each   month  from  the   state 


A    SXUr,    PARSONAGE 
Home  of  the  pastor  of  the   Dutch    Kefcrmed   Church,    North    of    Everly,    Clay    County 

Traveling  Library  Commission.  The  Women's  Club  bears  the  ex- 
pense of  shipping  the  books  and  members  of  the  club  serve  as  volun- 
teer librarians.  The  demand  for  books  has  proved  as  great  from 
farmers  as  from  villagers. 

Three  churches  serve  this  conununity — a  Lutheran  and  a 
Methodist  Episcopal  in  the  village  and  a  Dutch  Reformed  in  the 
country.  Forty-six  per  cent  of  the  population  of  1,314  are  active 
members  in  churches.  The  Lutheran  and  Dutch  Reformed  serve 
respectively  those  of  German  and  Dutch  descent,  while  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  are  made  up  mainly  of  descendants 
of  the  earliest  settlers  from  the  Middle  West  or  eastern  states. 
Two  of  the  churches  have  resident  pastors,  'i  he  Methodist  Epis- 
copal and  the  Dutch  Reformed  have  each  a  Ladies'  Aid  and  a  Young 
People's  Society.  The  big  needs  of  Everly  from  the  ])oint  of  view 
of  organization   are  work   among  boys   and   girls   in  the  churches, 

22 


COMAJLMTY   Lil-K    IN    TIIK   "\ALLEY   OF   IJKMOC  RACY" 

cooperative  economic  organization  anion::;  fanners  and  some  organ- 
ized men's  work  in  the  churches.  (  )n  the  whole,  however,  hy  com- 
parison witli  thi'  average  community,  Everly  lias  its  organizations 
well  developed  and  functioning. 

By  far  the  l)est  organized  community  is  Sjiencer,  the  county  seat. 
Here  are  one  of  the  oldest  Farmers'  Cooperative  drain  Elevators 
and  a  livestock  ship]):ng  association.  Among  the  industries  are 
two  creameries,  a  razor  factory  and  a  cement  ti!e  factory.  S])encer 
has  good  hotels,  stores,  garages,  hanks,  and  much  of  the  trade  of 
the  entire  county  is  carried  on  here.  The  town  has  a  ])oi)uiation  of 
4.800  and  there  are  at  least  1,200  more  people  in  the  adjacent  open 
country.  The  community  extends  six  miles  north,  west  and  soudi, 
and  five  miles  east.  The  puhlic  schools,  which  include  two  fine 
high  schools,  and  the  Lincoln  Boys'  Cluh  of  the  Methodist  E]jisco])al 
church,  with  its  excellent  huilding,  furnish  organized  athletics. 
There  are  two  moving-])icture  theaters,  two  pool-rooms,  two  news- 
papers, nine  lodges,  and  eight  other  social  organizations,  in  addition 
to  numerous  organizations  within  the  churches.  A  puhlic  Carnegie 
Library  and  a  hosp:tal  otTer  sanity  to  mind  and  body. 

Most  of  the  eleven  churches  are  well  organized,  nine  being  in  the 
tow^n  and  two  in  the  open  country.  Nine  have  resident  pastors 
and  parsonages.  By  denomination  the  churches  are  as  follows : 
Congregational,  two;  Evangelical  Association,  one;  Seventh  Day 
Adventist,  one;  Baptist,  one;  Methodist  Episcopal,  one;  Danish 
Lutheran,  one ;  Disciples,  one ;  Evangelical  Lutheran,  one ;  Swedish 
Lutheran,  one ;  Protestant  Episcopal,  one.  All  of  the  churches  have 
good  buildings,  and  the  Disciples  are  putting  up  a  splendid  new 
structure  to  cost  $50,000.  The  Alinisterial  Association  meets 
monthly  and  has  done  a  great  deal  toward  development  of  fellow- 
ship and  cooperation  among  the  churches  in  Spencer,  and  to  some 
extent  among  those  of  the  county.  There  are  five  pastors  in  the 
Ass'ociation,  which  always  invites  each  new  minister  to  join  it.  Tt 
meets  for  discussion  of  problems  and  fellowship,  and  it  has  also  held 
a  very  fine  two-day  conference  on  religious  education  for  all  the 
churches  of  the  county,  at  which  denominational  experts  in  religious 
education  were  present. 

Smaller,  less  organized,  but  possessing  the  usual  vigor  and  spirit 
is  Cornell,  which  has  a  consolidated  school,  and  a  successful  Farm- 
ers' Grain  Company  with  sixty  members.  Farmers  in  this  com- 
munity belong  to  the  Cornell-McClay  Cooperative  Live  Stock  Ship- 
ping .Association.  The  only  place  for  recreation  is  a  dance-hall, 
also  used  as  a  skating  rink.     The  population  is  250,  of  whom  200 

23 


RURAL  CHURCH  LHE   IN  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

live  on  farms.  The  community  boundaries  extend  one  and  one- 
half  miles  north,  242  miles  west,  142  miles  south  and  one  mile  east. 
The  church  has  a  non-resident  minister  who  is  able  to  give  the  com- 
munity Sunday  morning  services.  He  also  conducts  a  very  interest- 
ing and  well  attended  mid-week  young  people's  meeting. 

Other  communities  might  in  the  same  manner  be  described  in 
more  detail.  Nearly  every  one  has  some  distinctive  feature,  even 
though  all  communities  have  the  same  economic  resources  and 
general  characteristics.  Dickens  has  the  first  cooperative  creamery 
in  the  county,  five  lodges,  four  other  social  organizations.  Langdon 
has  three  cooperatives  among  farmers.  Peterson  has  two  coop- 
eratives among  farmers,  four  lodges  and  three  clubs,  including  a 
civic  club  which  has  varied  activities.  Greenville,  wdth  only  450 
people,  has  a  moving-picture  theater  and  a  consolidated  school. 
Almost  every  weekly  issue  of  the  newspapers  contains  news  of  some 
significant  event  which  means  social  progress.  For  instance,  the 
issues  of  the  two  Spencer  papers  for  May  4,  1921,  contained  notices 
of  the  following  four  events  which  give  an  idea  of  what  is  being 
done  in  the  active  and  vigorous  communities  of  Clay  County:  (1) 
The  county  high  school  track  meet  is  held  at  Spencer.  (2)  The 
Commercial   Club  of   Spencer  makes  plans   to  beautify   the   town. 

(3)  Farm  lUireau  women  of  Freeman  Township  organize  a  club. 

(4)  Architect  submits  plans  to  the  American  Legion   for  a  Com- 
munity Building  for  Spencer. 

Jennings  County,  Indiana 

Not  all  of  the  Middle  West  is  as  prosperous  and  fortunate  as 
Clay  County.  The  other  side  of  the  picture  is  found  in  Jennings 
County,  Indiana,  the  facts  from  the  survey  of  which  are  used  for 
comparative  purposes.  Taken  together,  the  two  counties  are  not 
far  from  making  an  average  for  the  section ;  separately,  they  are 
specimens  of  two  difi^erent  types  of  counties. 

Jennings  County  lies  in  southeastern  Indiana,  a  section  wnth 
characteristics  very  different  from  those  of  northwestern  Iowa. 
North  A'ernon,  the  railroad  and  commercial  center  of  the  county, 
is  about  two  and  one-half  hours  from  Indianapolis,  Cincinnati  or 
Louisville.  The  county  is  part  of  that  great  belt  of  land  which  lies 
between  the  north  and  south  and  shares  the  characteristics  of  both. 
Here  farming  is  much  more  diversified  than  in  Iowa,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  low,  acid  soil  conditions  are  far  less  favorable  than 
in  the  more  prosperous  sections  of  Indiana.     Land  values  of  Jen- 

24 


C'OMAIL'MTV  LH'K   J.\    TIIK   "VALLEY  OF  J)EMOC  RACY" 

iiings  County  are  one-fourth  those  of  Clay  County,  and  ahout  one- 
third  of  the  average  for  the  state  of  Indiana.  The  popuhition  has 
shown  a  steady  decrease.  In  1920  it  was  13,207,  a  figiu-e  whicli  is 
2,500  less  than  that  for  l')00  and  3,200  less  than  that  for  1880,  the 
year  of  niaxinunu  population.  Eighty-four  jjcr  cent  of  the  people 
are  native  white  of  native  parentage;  negroes  make  up  only  2  ])er 
cent  of  the  ])opulation,  and  the  remaining  14  per  cent.  comi)ose(l  of 
those  of  foreign  hirth  or  extraction,  is  drawn  mainly  from  (lermany 
and  Ireland,  and  for  the  most  pnvt  is  not  of  recent  immigration. 

Jennings  County  was  settled  in  1815  and  is  therefore  one  of  the 
old  sections  of  the  Middle  \\  est.    It  is  at  least  two  generations  older 


jlTb^- 


B.    &    O.     STATION,     NORTH    VERXON,    JENNINGS    COUNTY 


^>Jb  ■J.flwfc-a.'mjifcjwr 


than  Clay  County,  Iowa,  hut  its  community  life  is  not  so  well  or- 
sfanized.  Fourteen  comnumities  have  as  their  center  a  hamlet,  vil- 
lage  or  town,  with  an  average  population  of  950  people. 

A  specimen  community  of  this  county  is  Hayden.  Located  in 
the  west-central  part  of  the  county  and  extending  three  and  one-half 
miles  north,  three  miles  west,  four  miles  south  and  three  miles  east, 
Hayden  has  a  population  of  1,391,  of  whom  235  live  in  the  hamlet. 
Dairying  and  vegetable-raising  are  the  chief  branches  of  farming 
practiced.  There  is  a  canning  factory  which  in  season  employs 
about  fifty  persons.  The  only  organizations  in  addition  to  church 
and  school  are  five  lodges.  Hayden  is  justly  proud  of  its  consoli- 
dated school.  It  has  one  Methodist  and  one  Baptist  church.  Neither 
has  a  parsonage  and  both  have  non-resident  ministers,  the  ^Methodist 
pastor  living  twenty  miles,  and  the  Baptist  minister  nine  miles  from 

25 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IX  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

his  parish.  The  combined  church  membership  is  221,  of  whom  152, 
or  11  per  cent  of  the  population,  are  active.  The  combined  Sunday 
school  roll  is  140.  St.  Joseph's  Roman  CathoHc  Church,  with  an 
enrollment  of  fifty-eight  families  and  a  resident  priest,  is  located  in 
the  open  country  in  the  southern  part  of  the  community. 

Nebraska  is  an  example  of  the  less  developed  communities.  Ex- 
cept for  a  few  traders,  the  hamlet  of  seventy-five  people  is  made  up 
entirely  of  retired  farmers.  Farming  is  well  diversified,  with  corn 
and  livestock  as  the  chief  sources  of  income.     There  are  few  com- 


RECTORY    OF     ST.    JOSEPH  S    ROMAN     CATHOLIC 
CHURCH,    HAYDEN,    JENNINGS    COUNTY 


munity  activities,  and  especially  in  winter  there  is  little  recreation 
or  social  life.  The  one  lodge  for  men  is  not  very  strong.  There  are 
two  dance-halls  and  one  public  hall  not  extensively  used.  The  ele- 
mentary school  has  two  teachers  and  there  is  no  high  school.  The 
community  extends  about  two  miles  in  each  direction.  There  is  a 
Baptist  church  with  a  non-resident  pastor  who  follows  another 
occupation  and  also  has  two  other  churches,  and  the  church  pro- 
gram is  practically  confined  to  the  services  in  church  and  Sunday 
school.  The  Roman  Catholic  church  is  also  neglected,  so  far  as 
the  time  of  the  priest  is  concerned,  since  he  is  responsible  for  two 
other  points. 

Every  community  in  Jennings  County  now  has  a  branch  of  the 

26 


COMAIUMTY  LllK   JX  THE  "VALLEY  C)l     DKAIOCUACY" 

public  library,  and  farmers  from  all  ])arts  of  the  county  belong  to 
the  farm  bureau.  In  I 'rewersville,  an  abandoned  church  building 
has  been  turned  into  a  community  hall.  Cjrayford,  though  smrUl, 
has  the  livest  grange  organization  in  the  county.  San  Jacinto, 
almost  entirely  open  country,  has  two  lodges,  two  public  halls  and 
a  large  new  brick  school  building.  Vernon,  the  county  seat,  has 
made  the  first  real  attem])t  at  church  federation.  It  failed,  but 
such  movements  are  signs  of  promise.  North  \>rnon,  the  commer- 
cial center,  which  is  trying  to  become  the  county  seat,  has  a  Chamber 
of  Commerce  with  an  annual  budget  of  $7,000.  Last  year  it  gave 
$L000  to  the  War  IVIothers  to  start  a  hospital  fund.  Here  is  more 
community  spirit  than  elsew-here  in  the  county.  Citizens  of  North 
Vernon  were  leaders  in  the  purchase  of  the  excellent  park  site  which 
lies  between  the  two  Vernons,  and  which  has  been  presented  to  the 
state. 


27 


CHAPTER  II 

Economic  and  Social  Tendencies 
The   Cooperative   Movement 

BECAUSE  of  its  extent  and  significant  results  the  coopera- 
tive movement  represents  one  of  the  most  important  ten- 
dencies in  the  agricidtural  hfe  of  the  Middle  West  at  the 
present  time.  In  1907  the  first  Clay  County  farmers'  elevator  was 
organized  in  Spencer  with  a  capital  of  $25,000.  One  hundred  and 
seventy  farmers  bought  stock,  none  of  whom  were  allowed  more 
than  twenty  shares.  A  full-time  manager  was  employed  to  sell 
corn,  oats,  hogs  and  cattle  and  to  Iniy  coal,  feed,  flour  and  salt. 
Voting  privileges  were  according  to  the  amount  of  stock  held.  By 
1921  the  paid-up  capitalization  had  l)een  increased  to  $75,000.  Dur- 
ing 1920,  125  car-loads  of  grain  were  sold  and  purchases  included 
6,000  tons  of  coal,  seven  cars  of  salt  and  twelve  cars  of  flour.  In 
1920,  despite  the  fall  of  wholesale  prices  of  farm  products,  the 
grain  elevator  association  declared  a  modest  dividend.  The  co- 
operative seems  now  to  be  on  a  sound  basis,  and  the  farmers  are 
well  satisfied  with  the  organization,  especially  with  the  methods  of 
selling  grain.  Seven  other  communities  now  have  similar  organiza- 
tions, the  total  membership  reaching  1260. 

Since  December,  1919,  Clay  County  has  experienced  the  second 
period  of  cooperative  organization.  In  that  month,  under  tlie  lead- 
ership of  the  employed  county  agent  of  the  Farm  Bureau,  a  co- 
operative live  stock  shipping  association  was  formed  at  Fostoria. 
This  is  the  type  of  organization  which  has  been  spreading  at  un- 
heard-of speed  during  the  past  few  years  in  Iowa  and  other  stock- 
shipping  states.  The  Fostoria  cooperative  was  organized  with 
ninety-five  members,  all  farmers  who  shipped  live  stock.  No  stock 
was  sold  to  float  the  enterprise.  A  membership  fee  of  one  dollar  was 
charged  and  at  business  meetings  each  man  was,  of  course,  allowed 
one  vote.  No  local  equipment  is  needed.  The  manager  receives  a 
commission  of  eight  cents  per  hundred  pounds  of  live  stock  sold. 
One-half  of  one  per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts  is  put  into  the  reserve 
fund  to  be  used  to  pay  for  losses  of  cattle  in  transit.  At  the  end  of 
one  year's  business  the  membership  increased  to  122.     Eighty  car- 

28 


ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TKNDKNCIKS 

loads  of  stock  had  l)een  shipped,  valued  at  $180,000.  The  total  sav- 
ing to  the  shippers,  due  to  the  elimination  of  the  local  i)rivate  buyer 
and  economy  of  operation,  was  estimated  conservatively  at  $6,400. 
Eight  communities  now  have  a  cooperative  association  of  this  type, 
and  416  farmers  are  members.  During  the  year  ended  1920  they 
shipped  256  car-loads  of  live  stock,  valued  at  $556,200  and  the  esti- 
mated saving  to  the  farmers  as  a  result  of  their  cooperative  venture 
was  $17,280. 


"T^i   A^  '    * 


m 


M.    E.     CHURCH,    FOSTORIA,    CLAY    COUNTY 

Two  cooperative  creameries  that  have  recently  been  organized, 
witli  140  members,  bring  the  total  number  of  cooperative  organiza- 
tions in  Clay  County  up  to  eighteen.  Nine  of  the  twelve  communities 
have  each  one  or  more  of  these  eighteen  enterprises.  Some  farmers 
in  the  comnnmities  without  cooperatives  belong  to  those  in  the  sur- 
rounding villages,  and  thus  the  grain  elevators  and  the  shipping 
associations  are  practically  within  reach  of  every  farmer  in  the 
county.  In  Jennings  County,  Indiana,  on  the  other  hand,  where 
much  less  live  stock  is  raised,  the  cooperative  shipping  association 
is  on  a  country-wide  scale.  Three  communities  also  have  Grange 
or  Gleaners  organizations  which  do  cooperative  buying. 

The  grain  elevators  and  the  new  live  stock  shipping  organizations, 

29 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

which  have  l)ccn  mainly  built  up  within  the  last  five  years,  are  the 
chief  cooperative  organizations  in  the  state  of  Iowa.  Accorchng  to  a 
survey  liy  Dr.  E.  G.  Nouse,  of  the  State  Agricultural  College,  pub- 
lished in  1021,  the  live  stock  shipping  organizations  number  647, 
but  many  of  these,  Dr.  Nouse's  survey  shows,  are  handling  too 
small  an  amount  of  stock  to  survive.  The  problem  for  such  organ- 
izations now  is  :  "Expand,  combine  or  die."  One  hundred  cars  of 
stock  a  year  is  said  to  be  the  minimum  which  an  association  should 
handle,  and  the  ideal  should  be  500  to  1,000  cars  yearly.  In  Clay 
County  the  average  is  only  thirty-two  car-lcads  a  year.  The  State 
College  of  Agriculture  has  greatly  assisted  the  cooperative  move- 


Lourtcsy    of    Rural    Sociology    Section, 
Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture. 

COOPCr.ATIOX    IX    FULL    SWING 
Cocpcrativc    threshing   rink    in    a   prosperous   farming   section   of   Ic-\va 

ment  by  providing  short  courses  for  managers  in  various  parts  of  the 
state  during  the  fall  of  1921. 

In  the  Middle  West  cooperatives  are  at  least  as  numerous,  in 
proportion  to  the  total  number  of  rural  communities,  as  in  any 
other  region.  Iowa,  Wisconsin  and  Alichigan  were  among  the 
seven  states  having  the  largest  number  of  farmers  engaged  in  co- 
operative selling,  according  to  the  figures  of  the  Federal  Census 
for  1920.  Iowa,  W^isconsin  and  Ohio  were  among  the  six  states 
which  had  the  largest  number  of  farmers  doing  cooperative  pur- 
chasing. The  majority  of  the  Middle  West  cooperatives  are  on  the 
one-man,  one-vote  plan,  distribute  dividends  by  patronage  instead 
of  by  the  amount  of  stock  held,  tend  to  limit  members  to  producers 
and  limit  the  amount  of  stock  held  to  insure  democracy  of  control. 
A  minority  adopts  the  "non-stock"  method.    When  this  is  done  the 

30 


ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TENDENCIES 

prutluccrs'  contracts,  agreeing  tu  deli\cr  supplies  to  the  local  co- 
operative, form  the  capital  against  which  the  organization  borrows 
money  to  huild  a  plant  and  to  start  business.  Almost  half  tin-  cdui- 
munitics  in  these  states  have  at  least  one  cooperati\e  grain  elevator, 
shipping  association,  truck  exchange,  purchasing  organization, 
creamery  or  cheese  factory. 

Both  the  local  cooperative  grain  elevator  and  the  live  stock  ship- 
ping association  are  to  have  national  sales  agencies  as  a  result  of 
the  plans  of  the  American  b\irm  Bureau  Federation.     The  United 


■-•* 


Courtesy   of  Rural   .s^ './■/' ,1^.1    .Ni-Zi.  11, 
loiva   Stale   C\lli':^c    01    .l^itLnlliin'. 


WHERE    NEW    YORK    GETS    ITS    BUTTER 
A  cooperative  creaiiK-ry   in    Iowa   from   wliitli    Ijuttcr   is   shipiR-d 


irect    to    Xfw   York 


States  Grain  Growers,  Inc.,  the  grain  selling  cooperative,  had  seventy 
elevators  in  Iowa  as  members  at  the  end  of  1921.  The  b\irm  Bur- 
eau's Committee  of  Fifteen,  which  laid  plans  for  national  cooperative 
marketing  of  live  stock,  is  first  organizing  commission  houses  to 
sell  the  stock  of  the  local  associations  at  the  terminal  markets. 
The  plans  of  the  farmers  do  not  stop  with  the  formation  of  the 
local,  which,  unfederated,  merely  competes  with  its  neighbors.  They 
are  going  all  the  way  to  the  door  of  the  milling  and  packing  plant 
with  their  products,  supplanting  with  a  farmer  contro'led  agency 
a  second  middleman  in  addition  to  the  local  buyer.  When  the  local 
stock  shipper  not  only  controls  the  local  association,  but  also  be- 
comes a  shareholder  in  a  central  agency  like  the  United  States  Grain 
Growers  and  Farmers'  Commission  firms,  the  farmer  thus  adds  to 

31 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

his  income  some  of  the  accustomed  profits  of  the  local  buyer  and 
the  city  commission  firm. 


Land  Speculation  and  Farm  Tenancy 

That  the  black  land  in  the  cornbelt  would  some  day  sell  for  as 
much  as  $500  an  acre  might  once  have  been  regarded  as  the  wildest 
of  predictions.     Nevertheless,  this  is  what  happened  in  1919,  and 
the  Iowa  farmer  plunged  into  speculation  in  consequence.     Farming 
began  to  pay  and  farm  values  rose  as  part  of  other  upward  move- 
ments of  prices  during  the  last  twenty  years.     The  brisk  bidding 
for  land  was  such  that  few  could  resist  it.     In  Clay  County,  land 
was  worth  an  average  of  $218  per  acre  in  1920,  an  increase  of  300 
per  cent  over  figures  for  1910  and  almost  700  per  cent  more  than 
the  values  of  1900.     Farm  values  in  Iowa  used  to  increase  10  per 
cent  per  annum,  but  between  1900  and  1910,  according  to  the  census 
figures,  the  increase  was  more  than  200  per  cent,  an  average  of  20 
per  cent  per  year,  and  during  1910-1920  the  increase  was  about  330 
per  cent,  or  33  per  cent  per  annum.    It  was  conservatively  estimated 
that  between  10  and  20  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  the  state  were  sold 
in  1919.     Imagine  a  population  in  such  flux,  and  the  consequent 
problems    of   pastors,   teachers    and   social    workers.      In   Jennings 
County,  Indiana,  land  values  have  increased  ahnost  100  per  cent  in 
the  last  decade,  and  there  were  fewer  farms  in  1920  than  in  1910 
or  1900.     Indiana's  farm  land  in  1920  was  worth  almost  double  its 
value  in  1910  and  more  than  three  times  its  value  in  1900.    A  similar 
phenomena  has  occurred  in  the  other  mid-western  states,  some  of 
the  most  significant  increases  being  recorded  in  Illinois,  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  states. 

The  shifting  population  due  to  frequent  selling  would  alone 
present  a  formidable  problem,  but  the  large  amount  of  selling  was 
also  one  of  the  causes  of  the  increase  in  the  proportion  of  farm 
renters.  In  Clay  County  the  proportion  of  tenants  was  51.5  per  cent 
in  1920,  an  increase  of  9  per  cent  over  the  census  report  for  1900. 
In  Jennings  County,  which  has  become  a  section  of  farm  owners, 
only  12.8  per  cent  of  the  farms  were  operated  by  tenants  in  1920, 
this  being  an  increase  of  only  4  per  cent  over  the  proportion  in  1900. 
Throughout  the  Middle  West  during  the  past  twenty  years  tenantry 
has  increased  7  per  cent  in  Iowa,  3.4  per  cent  in  Illinois,  8  per  cent 
in  Indiana,  1  per  cent  in  Wisconsin,  2  per  cent  in  Ohio,  with  no 
data  as  yet  available  for  ]\Iichigan.  Another  important  reason  for 
the  increase  in  tenantry  is  that  land  rents  are  usually  equal  to  less 

32 


ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TENDKXCIES 


1- 


Courtesy   of   Kinul   Si  cii  i'-.^y   .^f  iion. 
Iowa  State  College   of  Agriculture. 

OWNERSHIP     AND     TENANCY 

Above    is    a    fine    type    of    Iowa    homestead,    owned    by    tbe    farnur.       lUdow    is    a    borne 

that    has   been    rented    for    years    to    successive    tenants.       It    is    in    one    <f    tlie    best 

fanning   sections   of    Iowa,    but    tliough    iiicturesque,    is    poverty-stricken 


zs 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

than  an  ordinary  6  or  7  per  cent  interest  on  the  value  of  the  farm.  In 
Iowa  rents  are  equal  to  only  between  3  and  4  per  cent  cf  the  value 
of  the  property.  It  is  cheaper  to  rent  than  to  buy.  1  he  fact  that 
the  war  put  much  hard  cash  into  the  farmers'  hands  operated  to 
make  increases  of  farm  tenantry  much  less  than  had  been  expected. 
The  tenant's  lease  is  usually  for  a  period  of  one  year.  That  makes 
his  place  in  the  community  less  secure  than  the  owner's.  Surveys 
of  320  specimen  tenant  farms  in  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri  by 
the  Interchurch  World  Movement  showed  that  the  tenants  have  been 
on  their  farms  an  average  of  6.3  years,  while  the  average  term  of 
occupancy  among  236  owners  is  12.6  years. 

There  is  naturally  among  tenants  a  struggle  to  get  to  the  better 
farms.  Fortunately,  however,  there  is  not  so  much  shifting  among 
the  tenants  in  the  corn  belt  as  in  some  other  states,  while  almost 
85  per  cent  of  those  who  start  on  the  way  to  ownership  eventually 
reach  the  goal.  First  the  farm  boy  works  at  home,  then  hires  out, 
next  becomes  a  tenant  and  finally  an  owner.  The  boys  may  skip 
one  or  two  stages,  but  most  of  them  go- through  the  four.  We  have 
nowhere,  as  has  Europe,  the  group  which  is  doomed  to  remain  in 
the  hired,  man  stage.  But  the  length  of  the  hired  man  and  tenant 
stages  has  increased,  so  that  it  takes  probably  nine  years  longer  to 
acquire  a  farm  now  than  it  did  thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  The 
young  farmer  and  his  family  must  struggle  that  much  longer.  There 
is  less  money  to  be  spent  for  the  children's  education  and  health, 
since  the  boys  and  girls  are  well  into  adolescence  before  the  father 
becomes  an  owner.* 

Another  aspect  of  the  problem  is  the  heavily  mortgaged  farmer. 
He  has  been  working  against  tremendous  odds  since  the  price  sag 
of  1920.  Speculation  stopped  at  that  time.  The  farmer  was  face 
to  face  with  the  hard  task  of  paying  a  big  mortgage  with  the  most 
slender  margin  of  profit  on  corn  and  cattle.  It  is  estimated  that 
farmers  in  the  corn  belt  received  about  five  cents  an  hour,  on  an 
average,  for  their  long  hours  of  labor  in  1921.  That  means  that 
a  good  many  received  nothing.  Studies  made  in  Indiana  in  the 
fall  of  1921,  with  land  values  put  at  $125  an  acre,  showed  that  In- 
diana farmers  received  only  2.05  cents  an  hour  for  their  own  labor 
and  1.02  cents  an  hour  in  return  for  horse  labor.  The  significance 
of  these  figures  becomes  apparent  when  it  is  realized  that  42.2  hours 
of  man  labor  and  50.6  hours  of  horse  labor  are  required  to  produce 
an  acre  of  corn,  according  to  figures  of  production  in  seven  corn 
producing  states.     ]\Iany  men  cannot  hope  to  pay  their  debts  in  a 

*  See  "Survey  to  Service,"  by  H.  Paul  Douglass,  pp.  154-155. 

34 


ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TENDENCIES 

lifetime.  Others  cannot  meet  interest  payments.  Foreclosures  are 
frequent.  It  was  reported,  in  January,  1922,  that  thousands  of 
lowans  were  being  driven  from  their  farms  tlirough  foreclosures. 
Those  who  bought  at  the  highest  prices  naturally  suffer  most  from 
the  reaction.  The  seriousness  of  the  situation  cannot  easily  be  over- 
emphasized. 

■  In  Clay  County  many  farmers  were  working  imdcr  tremendous 
handicaps  in  1921.     In  Jennings,  the  situation  was  not  so  acute,  as 


CREDIT        TO     THE     COMMUNITY 

The   bank    at    Royal,    Clay    County.      Thrcugh   the 
assistance  of  the   War   I'inance   Ccrporation  the 
banks  lia\"e  been  alile  to   extend   much- 
needed   credit   1o   tlie   farmers 

there  was  less  inflation.  In  neither  of  these  counties  probal)ly  is  the 
situation  so  serious  as  in  otiier  parts  of  the  INIiddle  West.  The  pro- 
portion of  owned  farms  mortgaged  remained  practicall}'  the  same 
during  the  last  ten  years.  The  ratio  of  debt  to  value  increased, 
however,  by  5  per  cent  in  Jennings  and  by  4  per  cent  in  CIu}'  Count  v. 
In  the  middle  western  states  the  proportion  of  owned  farms  with 
mortgage  debt  has  increased  roughly  as  follows  during  the  last  ten 
years:  Iowa,  8  ])er  cent;  Indiana,  3  per  cent;  Ohit).  ^  ])vv  cent; 
Wisconsin.  11  per  cent;  Illinois,  4  per  cent.  Furthermore,  the  ratio 
of  debt  to  value  was  higher  in  1920  than  in  1910  in  three  of  these 
states.  The  exceptions  are  Iowa  and  Illinois  where  this  ratio  did 
not  change. 


RURAL  CHURCH  LH'E   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

There  are  alleviating  forces  at  work.  The  water  is  slowly  be- 
ing squeezed  out  of  land  valuations  but  at  a  tremendous  cost  and 
after  many  unfortunate  experiences  through  foreclosures.  In  the 
matter  of  tenancy,  one  way  to  help  both  owner  and  tenant  is  to 
introduce  more  widely  the  crop  rent  instead  of  the  cash  rent  system. 
Cash  rent  is  unfair  to  the  owner  when  prices  are  rising  and  as  un- 
fair to  the  tenant  when  they  are  falling.  Another  aid  to  rehabita- 
tion  will  be  the  longer  lease.  The  cooperatives  are  doing  their  part 
in  obtaining  increased  income  for  products.  Lower  freight  .rates 
will  assist,  and  it  appears  that  loans  of  the  A\'ar  Finance  Corpora- 
tion to  banks  and  cooperatives  have  proved  a  really  constructive 
measure.  The  assistance  of  the  War  Finance  Corporation  has  en- 
abled banks  to  give  longer  terms  to  farmers  on  crop  loans,  a  policy 
which  was  always  desirable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  farmer  has 
only  one  turn-over  a  year. 

Consolidation  of  Schools 

In  all  parts  of  the  country,  the  movement  to  consolidate  the  tra- 
ditional one-room  schools  is  spreading  rapidly.  It  is  estimated 
that  at  the  close  of  1921  upwards  of  2,000,000  children,  living  in 
68,000  old  rural  school  districts,  were  moved  to  14,000  consolidated 
schools,  "llie  little  red  school  house"  has  served  its  day,  and  it  is 
a  matter  of  pride  now  for  a  community  or  county  to  be  able  to 
point  to  a  large  number  of  these  small  buildings  which  are  "aban- 
doned through  consolidation." 

The  middle  western  states  have  shared  in  this  movement.  Illi- 
nois has  made  a  start  with  seventy-eight  consolidated  schools,  but 
it  still  has  10,000  one-room  structures.  Wisconsin  has  eighty  con- 
solidated schools;  jNIichigan  consolidated  thirty  schools  in  1921, 
and  Ohio  has  made  great  progress  with  900  centralized  or  consol- 
idated schools  to  her  credit.  Indiana  and  Iowa,  where  the  two  speci- 
men counties  of  this  study  are  situated,  have  probably  made  most 
progress  of  all.  The  former  has  1,000  schools  consolidated  and 
4,000  one-room  buildings  abandoned.  Iowa  had  seventeen  consol- 
idated schools  in  twelve  counties  in  1913.  In  that  year  the  state 
passed  a  law  encouraging  consolidation,  with  the  result  that  in  five 
years  221  more  schools  were  consolidated,  and  to-day  there  are  400. 
By  July,  1921,  the  state  had  discarded  3,308  one-room  buildings, 
and  at  Iowa's  present  rate  the  "little  red  school  houses"  will  have 
vanished  completely  in  another  eight  years.  Fortunately,  too,  the 
law  of  Iowa  provides  that  the  better  the  equipment   for  teaching 

36 


ECONO.MR    AND   SOCIAL  TENDPLXCIES 


'\,-*-  <.-i'-« 


3fc  .  ** 


jm.M^ 


J^n 


■"fKi 


UEI.KS  OF    THE    TAST 

Above:    All    old    sclio,  I    aljanddiied    because    (£    consoli- 

(lalioii.      lirlcnv:   ( )nc  (f  the  few  remaining  kg 

cal)ins  in  Jennings  County,   Indiana 


47761 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

agriculture  and  domestic  science  provided  by  the  local  conniiunity, 
the  greater  the  amount  of  aid  received  from  the  State  Department 
of  Education. 

Clay  County  has  abandoned  thirty-one  one-room  buildings ;  Jen- 
nings County  twenty-one.  As  a  result,  seven  of  the  twelve  com- 
munities in  Clay  County  have  well  equipped  consolidated  schools 
and  transport  pupils  at  public  expense.  In  Jennings  County  three 
of  the  fourteen  communities  have  consolidated  schools.  Clay  County 
was  still  in  the  period  of   "growing  pains''  when   the   survey  was 


Courtesy   of  Rural  Sociology   Section, 
Iowa   St.stc   College   of  Agricult..rJ. 

THE    LITTLE    RED    SCIIOOLHOUSE    SUPERSEDED 
One    of    Iowa's    Ccnsolidated    Schools,    serving    llie    village    and    adjacent    countryside 


made  in  1021,  and  the  merits  of  consolidation  were  still  under  dis- 
cussion. The  common  opinion  in  Clay  County,  as  in  Jennings, 
was,  however,  that  the  consolidated  school  had  brought  many  bene- 
fits. Consolidation  has  meant  a  multiplication  of  opportunities  for 
the  rural  boy  and  girl.  The  consolidated  school  is  large  enough 
to  command  tlie  services  of  a  competent  principal  or  superintendent. 
Attendance  records  are  better.  Pupils  can  be  better  graded.  Agri- 
culture, domestic  science,  manual  training,  sanitation,  etc.,  can  be 
more  efficiently  taught.  The  better  teachers  are  attracted  to  and 
held  by  the  consolidated  school.  The  equipment  is  superior  to  that 
of  the  small,  one-room  structure.  Amusements,  athletics  and  social 
afifairs  for  the  community  have  been  more  readily  organized.     Un- 

38 


ECONOxMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TFADENCIES 

clouljtedly  the  consolidated  schools  have  made  an  important  contri- 
bution to  the  life  of  the  two  counties. 


Interest  in  Public   Health 

When  the  bill  to  establish  the  National  Children's  Bureau  was 
before  Congress,  a  leading  Senator  sneeringly  remarked  that  he 
opposed  the  measure  because  it  placed  babies  on  the  level  with  pigs — 
a  statement  which  was  not  very  wide  of  the  mark,  except  that  the 
Senator  omitted  to  mention  that  babies,  so  far  as  governmental 
measures  were  concerned,  had  always  been  regarded  as  a  little  lower 
than  pigs.     In  many  sections  of  rural  America  even  to-dav  there 


r^ 


T" 


■iii.i'!m< 


X       -a  ::    ®    «    T 


■4 


■\  '.  %£■■  1  ' «   M 


^^^ 

'*1^^ 


JUL    PUBLIC    SCHOOL    AT    ROYAL,    CLAY    COUXTV 

is  better  public  or  governmental  jirovision  for  the  care  of  sick  cattle 
than  of  children.  This  is  not,  however,  the  attitude  in  most  sections 
of  the  Middle  W'est,  where  a  large  number  of  counties  employ 
pu1)lic  health  nurses.  Work  of  this  character  was  begun  in  Clay 
County  in  April,  1919.  and  it  is  supported  by  the  four  Red  Cross 
Societies  in  the  communities  of  Spencer.  Everly,  Langdon,  and 
Dickens.  Plans  were  made  to  have  two  nurses,  but  only  one  could 
be  obtained.  In  the  first  sixteen  months  of  this  service  all  the 
schools  of  the  county  had  been  visited,  and  reports  had  been  made 
on  the  physical  condition  of  the  pupils.  Two  thousand  nine  htm- 
dred  and  ninetv-seven  pupils,  or  about  nine-tenths  of  the  enrollment, 
had  been  inspected,  and  only  279  had  a  perfect  bill  of  health.  One 
thousand  and  seventy  children,  or  more  than  one-third,  were  7  ])er 
cent  or  worse  underweight.  Jn  a  prosperous  countv  of  the  corn 
belt,  where  food  is  plentiful,   it  was   found  that  many  lessons  of 

39 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

diet  and  nutriticn  needed  to  be  learned,  while  defects  of  teeth,  nose 
and  throat  were  numerous.  The  nurse  in  charge  has  also  organized 
and  supervised  seven  first  aid  classes  and  has  given  health  instruc- 
tion to  children  during  her  visits  to  schools. 

Throughout  the  Middle  West  great  progress  has  been  made  in 
the  care  of  public  health  during  the  last  few  years.  Wisconsin  had 
forty-five  county  public  health  nurses  in  1920  and  thirty-five 
health  centers  in  operation.  Illinois  has  199  nurses  at  work  out- 
side of  Chicago  and  Cook  County,  a  majority  of  whom  do  either 
part  time  or  full  service  in  town  and  country.  Sixty  counties  have 
at  least  one  nurse.  In  May,  1921,  Indiana  had  forty-two  county 
nurses  and  there  were  twenty-five  positions  open.  In  Ohio  forty- 
five  counties  now  have  full  time  health  commissioners,  and  thirty- 
three  Red  Cross  nurses  are  at  work.  Iowa  has  forty-seven  Red 
Cross  public  health  nurses  and  Michigan  sixty-four,  the  latter  hav- 
ing more  Red  Cross  nurses  than  any  other  state.  In  the  six  states 
considered  the  Red  Cross  had  291  public  health  imrses  in  1921.  The 
large  majority  of  these  are  county  nurses  and  therefore  reach  the 
rural  as  well  as  the  urban  population.  Most  progress  in  the  Red 
Cross  program  has  been  made  since  1919,  and  it  is  increasingly 
popular.  The  Red  Cross  Nurse  does  public  school,  maternity,  in- 
dustrial or  tuberculosis  nursing,  as  the  local  chapter  or  cooperating 
organizations  desire. 

More  and  Better  Libraries 

The  extension  of  libraries  is  a  movement  still  in  its  younger  days, 
but  one  that  is  making  much  progress  and  that  gives  evidence  in 
its  results  of  the  vision  and  spirit  of  service  dominating  the  social 
and  educational  agencies  of  the  Middle  West.  The  little  library  at 
Everly,  in  Clay  County,  is  typical  of  the  local  libraries  which  are 
beginning  to  extend  their  influence  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  village 
to  the  farmers  in  the  open  country.  The  Woman's  Club  supplies  the 
vohmteer  librarians  for  this  institution.  The  library  is  in  the  rest 
room  which  the  bank  has  opened  for  farmers'  wives.  Half  of  the 
two  hundred  books  are  from  the  state  traveling  library.  Books 
are  free  to  all  and  there  is  as  much  call  from  farmers  as  from  vil- 
lagers. 

The  work  done  by  the  library  of  Jennings  County,  Indiana, 
might  well  be  imitated  by  most  counties  in  America.  The  library 
was  erected  in  1918,  and  is  supported  by  taxation.  There  are  two 
librarians,  one  doing  local  work  at  North  Vernon,  and  the  other 

40 


I 


ECONOxMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TENDENCIES 

establishing  and  serving  branches  in  the  villages  and  country  dis- 
tricts. By  1921  twenty  such  branches  had  been  established  in  all 
the  connnunity  centers  and  in  homes  in  some  remote  sections.  Thus 
books  are  within  easy  reach  of  every  person  in  the  county.  The 
circulation  of  one  of  these  small  posts  has  been  as  high  as  1,000 
books  a  month,  which  shows  that  the  books  are  wanted  and  are 
being  read.  The  county  library  building  is  also  used  for  public 
meetings. 

The  library  in  the  city  of  Spencer,  Iowa,  was  organized  in  1(S(S3. 
It  continued  to  grow  until   1*)03,  when  efiforts  were  made  to  get  a 


A    BOON    TO    THE    COMMUNITY 
The   County   library   at    North    N'enioii,    Jennings    County 

Carnegie  library.  Spencer  in  due  time  received  $10,000  from  'Mv. 
Carnegie,  on  the  condition  that  it  agreed  to  raise  $1,000  yearly  for 
maintenance.  This  money  has  been  raised  by  taxation.  The  library 
makes  a  small  charge  for  books  to  people  outside  of  Spencer.  The 
number  of  country  jieople  taking  books  is  not  known  but  is  said 
to  be  very  small.  In  Clay  County  only  Spencer  and  Everly  have 
libraries. 

The  effects  of  library  extension  can  easily  be  measured.  To  the 
people  on  the  farms  and  the  smaller  communities  comes  a  widened 
horizon,  a  touch  with  the  outer  world  not  hitherto  experienced.  To 
the  young  people  who  have  completed  the  local  school  course,  the 
extension  library  affords  a  means  of  continuing  their  education,  at 
least  to  some  extent.  The  l)ooks  sent  out  by  the  State  traveling 
libraries  are  usually  selected  by  experts  with  social  vision  and  the 

41 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IX  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

newer  and  better  types  of  books  are  thus  introduced  into  the  village 
and  farm  home.  The  result  can  usually  be  seen  in  improved  com- 
munity leadership. 

Indiana  has  150  libraries  in  towns  of  less  than  5,000  people  and 
in  the  smaller  centers.  Only  nine  towns  of  2,000  or  more  popula- 
tion are  without  a  library.  Two-thirds  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
state  have  library  facilities.  Thirteen  libraries  each  serve  an  entire 
county,  as  the  one  in  Jennings  just  described.  One  hundred  and 
fifty  town  libraries  serve  190  townships  under  the  State  law  which 
encourages  joint  support  and  cooperation  on  the  part  of  country 
districts  and  municipalities.  In  the  entire  state  1,611,000  city  and 
town  dwellers  have  libraries,  but  although  there  are  as  many  more 
people  in  the  country  districts,  only  395,000  of  these  have  as  yet 
been  reached.    Indiana  is,  nevertheless,  a  leader  in  library  extension. 

Iowa  has  154  libraries  in  towns  of  less  than  5,000  and  already 
thirty  libraries  are  extending  their  services  to  from  one  to  six 
townships  under  the  rural  extension  laws  of  the  state.  The  State 
traveling  libraries  number  1,500,  the  large  majority  of  these  being 
in  the  rural  communities.  This  means  an  average  of  about  fifteen 
per  county.  The  number  of  traveling  libraries  and  local  associations 
is  increasing  very  rai)idly.  Michigan  has  150  public  libraries  in 
town  and  country.  There  are  no  figures  on  extension,  but  the 
movement  has  st?rted  en  a  small  scale.  In  Illinois,  128  of  the  221 
tax-supported  liliraries  are  in  towns  of  less  than  5,000  and  in  the 
rural  districts.  One  county  library  has  thirteen  branches  in  the 
country  districts.  Ohio  has  seventy-five  libraries  in  town  and  coun- 
try, four  counties  in  which  rural  extension  work  is  being  done,  and 
four  in  which  there  is  partial  service.  There  are  1,449  traveling 
libraries  constantly  in  use  in  the  state.  Wisconsin  has  169  public 
libraries  in  town  and  country.  Fcur  city  libraries  do  extension 
work  throughout  their  respective  counties.  Twenty-eight  other 
libraries  do  extension  work  in  townships,  and  many  others  extend 
their  service  at  least  beyond  the  municipalities  in  which  they  are 
located.     There  are  1,200  traveling  libraries. 

Social  and  Recreational   Organization 

Twenty  years  ago,  the  people  of  Clay  and  of  many  other  coun- 
ties in  the  Middle  West  had  formed  few  social  organizations,  at 
least  as  compared  with  present  developments.  Everybody  was  busy 
getting  started  or  settled,  or  developing  the  farms.  To-day  no  com- 
munity in  Clay  County  is  without  a  social  organization  of  some  kind. 

42 


ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  TENDENCIES 

Every  coniniunity  lias  at  least  one  lods^^e.  Five  of  the  twelve  com- 
munities have  open  societies  (jr  clu])s,  and  two  communities  have 
other  social  organizations.  Twenty-two  lodjj^es  have  a  total  mem- 
bership of  2,473,  an  averat^'e  of  112.  Tvn  open  societies  or  clubs 
have  an  averai^e  membersliip  of  seventy-two.  The  six  other  or- 
ganizations have  on  an  average  thirty-three  members.  Spencer, 
the  county  seat,  is  the  only  comnumily  which  has  a  large  nmnber 
of  social  organizations,  and  the  only  one  which  has  social  or  recrea- 
tional organizations  for  the  fotu"  groups  of  men,  women,  bovs,  and 


Courtesy    cf   Rural   Sociology   Section, 
Iowa  State  College  of  Agriculture. 


WONDER    WHAT    MAKE    THESE    CARS    ARE? 
Boys'    Cliil)   (111   an   autdmoliilc   "hike" 


girls.  Four  of  the  communities  are  especially  deticient,  having 
social  organizations  for  only  one  or  two  groups.  A  majority  of 
the  schools  take  some  part  in  the  supplying  social  events.  Seven 
of  the  twelve  communities  have  organized  athletics  in  connection 
with  schools  or  other  organizations.  Two  comnumities  have  a  total 
of  three  dance  halls,  two  have  moving-picture  theaters  and  one — 
the  county  seat — has  six  pool-rooms  and  two  bowling-alleys.  The 
work  of  the  schools  and  of  the  social  organizations,  including  the 
lodges,  perhaps  overshadows  the  influence  of  commercial  recreation. 
The  part  of  the  churches  in  recreational  life  is  considered  in  Chap- 
ter III. 

Jennings  Countv  also  has  made  considerable  progress  in  the  way 
of  recreation,  but  here,  too,  only  one  community.   North  Vernon, 

43 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

the  commercial  and  railroad  center,  is  supplying  social  and  recrea- 
tional events  for  all  groups.  Enterprising  citizens  have  purchased 
a  beautiful  park  site  between  Vernon  and  North  Vernon,  and  have 
presented  it  to  the  state,  which  will  make  of  it  a  large  and  popular 
pleasure  ground. 

All  of  the  fourteen  communities  have  at  least  one  place  for 
recreation,  but  in  one  case  this  is  only  a  moving-picture  hall,  in  two 
cases  a  lodge  hall,  and  in  another  case  only  the  school  is  used.  The 
supply  of  dance-halls,  pool-rooms  and  bowling-alleys  is  about  the 
same  as  in  Clay  County.  The  schools  are  taking  an  active  part. 
There  are  two  Gleaners,  one  Grange  and  thirty-one  lodges,  three 
women's  clubs,  one  boy  scout  troop,  one  county  organization  of 
War  Mothers,  one  county  post  of  the  American  Legion. 

An  examination  of  the  surveys  of  twenty  well  distributed  coun- 
ties throughout  the  Middle  West  reveals  on  an  average  approxi- 
mately the  same  amount  of  social  and  recreational  organization. 
Only  from  one  to  three  communities  per  county  can  be  said  to  be 
fairly  completely  organized  from  a  social  and  recreational  point  of 
view.  On  the  other  hand,  practically  every  community  has  at  least 
one  social  organization  and  one  place  for  amusement. 


44 


^—  ■ County   Boundorij 

^~  ^  ^^  ^—  CommuniTu    BounddCu 


■■Neighborhood    Boundary 

■  Parith    Boundorij 

•  Pariah  £    Church   Conn^ctmq  Lm* 

■  Circuit  of    Pattor 


KEY    AND     SYMBOLS 

•    HofTilcT 

^  Town  -  ovec  5.000 
D   Church  -VVh.t* 
S    Church  -Co'orsd 

D    Church -Wh.fe  w.fh  Poster*    Residence 
Q    Church -Colored, w.th  Pattor's   R«iid«nc» 


S==^ 


Circuit 


4   Pastor**    Res>dfnc«   w.thout  Church-M^.t* 
A    Pastors    Residence  >*trhout  ChurcK-Cfflorfd 
■  Abor>doned    Church.      U  |na.cl<>«  Chwr> 
(S  Sundtnj  School   without    Church  -Wh,t# 
23  5undo.j  School  w.fhout    Church -Colorad 
B  Church  ua-ng  School     Bid^ 


CHURCH    AND    COMMUNITY     MAP    OF    CLAY    COUNTY,    IOWA 


CHURCH    AND    COMMUNITY    MAP   OF   JENNINGS    COUNTY,    INDIANA 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Religion  of  the  People 
Standing  of  the  Churches  '•' 

WHEN  the  churches  of  New  England  and  the  other  eastern 
states  saw  the  westward  movement  of  jjopulation,  they 
organized  the  Home  ^Mission  agencies,  which  brought 
church,  school  and  college  to  the  pioneer.  ]\Ien  and  money  came 
out  of  the  East  for  this  task  of  ministry,  and  many  of  the  churches 
of  Clay  and  Jennings  Counties  were  first  started  with  the  aid  of 
missionary  funds. 

In  Clay  County  the  first  churches  established  were  the  Congre- 
gational, Baptist,  Friends,  Disciples  and  ^Methodist  Episcopal,  ex- 
pressing the  preferences  of  the  earlier  settlers  who  came  from  the 
East.  The  later  immigration  brought  the  Danish  and  Swedish 
Lutheran,  and  among  the  Germans  the  Lutheran  and  Evangelical 
Association.  The  single  Dutch  Reformed  church  ministers  to  a 
compact  group  of  Dutch  farmers  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the 
county.  The  only  Protestant  Episcopal  and  Seventh  Day  Adventist 
churches  are  at  the  County  seat,  while  the  one  Presbyterian 
church  has  only  lately  been  organized. 

--^"liegardless  of  erratic  fluctuations  of  population  during  the  last 
thirty  years  the  ratio  of  Protestant  church  membership  to  total 
population  has  remained  constant  at  one  churcli  member  to  every 

-Tour  inhabitants.  According  to  the  survey  of  1920.  27  per  cent 
of  the  people  were  members  of  the  Protestant  clnuxhes.  and  a  little 
less  than  3  per  cent  were  Roman  Catholics.  In  Jennings  County 
there  has  been  a  decrease  in  population  and  in  Protestant  church 
membership  since  1906,  but  with  no  change  in  the  proportion  of 
people  in  the  churches.  There  were  thirty-three  organized  Protest- 
ant churches  in  Clay  County,  and  forty-three  Protestant  churches 
and  six  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  Jennings  Count}'  in   1920. 

The  Church  has  a  stronger  footing  in  Clay  County  than  in  most 
sections  of  the  ]\Iiddle  West.  In  many  sections  the  gains  of  mem- 
bership have  been  at  a  lower  rate  than  the  gains  of  ])o]:)ulation, 
while  a  decline  of  pojuilation  often  brings  with  it  a  still  more  rai)id 

*  The  charts  in  this  chapter  refer  to  Clay  County  only. 

47 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

decline  of  church  membership.  In  1920  thirty-hve  counties  studied 
had  18  per  cent  of  their  population  as  active  members  in  Protestant 
churches,  whereas  in  Clay  Covmty,  as  has  been  seen,  the  proportion 
of  church  members  was  27  per  cent.     The  average  church  in  Clay 


CHURCH    MEMBERS 

IN    POPULATION 

r% 

IBmembers 

1     ■ 

NoN- Members 
73  %       \ 

5 

CHART   I 


ONE  OF  THE   SIX   ROMAN    CATHOLIC   CHURCHES    IN 
JENNINGS   COUNTY 

County  has  135  members  and  in  Jennings  County  eighty-seven,  as 
compared  with  an  average  membership  of  ninety-three  for  the  thirty- 
five  specimen  counties  in  this  region.     One-third  of  the  churches 

48 


THE   REJJGIOX   OF   THE   PEOl'EE 

in  Clay  County  and  nearly  half  the  churches  in  Jennings  have  less 
than  fifty  members.  In  this  respect  Jennings  tallies  almost  exactly 
with  the  average  for  the  tliirty-five  counties  of  the  Middle  West  in 
which  47  per  cent  of  the  churches  have  less  than  fifty  members, 
while  the  churches  of  Clay  County  are  considerably  larger. 

The  churches  gain  mainly  by  enlisting  Sunday  school  scholars, 
through   protracted    meetings   and   through    classes   to   prepare    for 


NUMBER    OF   CHURCHES 
GAINING   &  LOSING   IN  ONE  YEAR   PERIOD 

33   PROTESTANT   CHURCME.5 


3  Churches     lost 


9   Churches    remained 
Stationary 


21  Churches     gained        I^^I^^^^^^hI 

Less  5-10% 

than  5% 


Over  10  % 


CHART    n 


RELATION   OF   SIZE 
OF  CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP    TO  GAIN 


OF     n      CHURCHES 

ith  memberships    of    less    than    50 


33% 

[gamed 


OF    22    CHURCHES 

with   memberships  of   50  or  more 


33°A, 

did  not  gam 


67  y^ 
did  not  gain 


SIVIALL  CHURCHES  '  LARGE.    CHURCHES 

(During    post    year) 


CHART   in 


church  membership.  In  Clay  County  there  had  been  a  net  gain  of 
more  than  9  per  cent  during  the  year  previous  to  the  survc}-.  Only 
9  per  cent  of  the  thirty-three  churches  are  losing.  29  per  cent  are 
stationary,  while  62  ])er  cent  are  adding  members.  Most  of  the 
gains  are  in  the  larger  churches  with  a  membership  of  more  than 
fifty,  in  fact,  the  thirteen  churches  which  had  an  average  mem- 
bership of  141  in  1919,  and  which  recorded  a  net  gain  of  more  than 

-i9 


RURAL  CHURCH  LHE   IN  THE   MH3DLE  WEST 


10  per  cent,  accounted  for  79  per  cent  of  the  net  gain  of  the  county. 
Seven  of  these  churches  had  full-time  resident  pastors.  Ten  churches 
of  the  total  of  thirty-three  held  protracted  meetings,  adding  an  aver- 
age of  twenty-three  to  the  church  through  conversions.  The  nine 
churches  with  classes  to  prepare  for  church  membership  are  also 
adding  rapidly  to  their  numbers,  having  taken  in  an  average  of 
twenty-eight  members  a  year.  Three-fifths  of  the  people  joining 
the  churches  are  Sunday  school  scholars. 


RESIDENCE  AND  ACTIVITY 
OF  CHURCH  MEMBERS 

33  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES 
WITH    ENROLLMENT  OF  4454 

9% 

N on-Resident  I 


,      4% 
In -Ac  five 


87% 

Actfve 


V  9  1  %  of 
n'otal  Roll 
are  Resident 


An  Inactive   member   is   one   who  does    not 
attend   ctiurch    or  contribute  fo   its  support 


CHART    IV 


^-^—^      Three  kinds  of  losses  too  often  nullify  the  gains  of  the  churches. 
/    / 1  Xn  Clay  County  9  per  cent  of  the  church  membership  is  non-resident, 
made  up  of  people  who  have  left  the  community.     Many  of  these 
people  are,  or  become,  a  loss  to  the  Church.     There  is  no  aggressive 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  local  churches  or  overhead  denominational 
organizations  to  halt  this  loss.     Too  often  the  country  church  self- 
ishly holds  to  the  non-resident  member  for  the  sake  of  what  con-^-v 
tribution  it  may  get.     Six  per  cent  of  the  membership  is  residei^fUVy 
but   inactive,   neither   attending   nor   contributing.      This   is    only   a 
camouflaged    form    of    loss.     Tt    means    little    to    add    a    member, 
if  another  is  lost  through  inactivity.     True  evangelism  or  enlistment 
begins  by  "holding  on  to  what  you  have,"  by  putting  the  membei:r='-^ 
ship  at  work.     A  third   form   of  loss   is  through   failure  to  enlist  V/ 

50 


THE  RELIGION  Ol'   TIIK   PEOPLE 

young  people.  Seventy  per  cent  of  the  ehurch  nienihershi])  of  Clay 
County  consists  of  persons  over  twenty-one  years  of  a<i;e.  In  Jen- 
nings County  22  per  cent  of  the  church  menihers  are  non-resident, 
which  is  partly  explained  hy  the  exodus  of  the  peo])le  from  the 
county.     Six  per  cent  are  resident  hut  do  not  contrihute  or  attend. 

The  churches  reach  the  families  of  farm  owners,  retired  farmers 
and  traders  in  town  and  village,  far  more  effectively  than  they 
reach  the  households  of  farm-tenants.  In  Clay  County  tenants 
make  up  51.5  per  cent  of  the  operating  farmers  in  the  count  v.  hut 
only  21.1  per  cent  of  those  on  the  church  rolls.  The  shifting  of  the 
tenant  makes  him  and  his  family  hard  to  reach  in  a  new  countv 
like  Clay,  hut  an  even  more  serious  difficulty  is  the  fact  that  the 
minister  shifts  more   frequently  than  the   farm  tenant. 

In  both  counties  churches  may  be  said  to  be  very  unevcnlv  dis- 
tributed. Congregations  were  first  established  in  a  scramble  to 
get  to  points  of  importance,  or  to  places  which  promised  to  grow, 
in  order  that  the  denomination  nu'ght  raj^idly  add  members  and 
finance.  Ralph  Felton,  in  his  Indiana  Survey  of  1911,  describes 
the  typical  situation  in  the  Aliddle  West :  "Some  churches  were 
built  purely  out  of  jealousy.  Most  of  them  were  built  without  re- 
gard for  other  denominations.  Some  one  blundered.  The  Lord's 
money  was  wasted.  The  process  is  still  going  on."  In  Clay  County 
there  is  one  church  for  every  474  peop'e.  This  is  close  to  the  aver- 
age figure  for  thirty-five  surveyed  counties  in  the  region,  one  church 
to  every  509  persons.  Fortunately  four  of  the  siualler  communities 
have  only  one  church.  Eliminating  these,  the  ratio  of  people  per 
church  in  the  eight  communities  with  more  than  one  church  is  as 
follows:  one  church  to  412  people;  one  to  438;  one  to  225;  one  to 
152;  one  to  538;  one  to  122;  one  to  526;  one  to  375.  According 
to  the  standard  recommended  by  the  interdenominational  organiza- 
tions, one  to  1,000  peojile,  it  is  obvious  that  each  one  of  these  com- 
munities is  overchurched.  In  Jennings  Countv  the  proportion  of 
churches  to  people  is  one  to  310,  and  the  local  communities  are 
more  badly  overchurched  than  in  Clay.  In  Clay  County,  with  its 
group  of  churches  serving  German,  Swedish  and  Danish  immigrants, 
the  situation  is  somewhat  explained  by  the  alignments  by  racial 
preference.  The  church  of  the  immigrant  stands  side  by  side  with 
that  of  the  early  settler  in  half  the  connnunities.  Racial  barriers 
will  for  some  time  keep  the  gap  between  denominations  wide.  The 
situation  in  Jennings  County,  worse  than  that  of  Clay,  cannot  be 
explained  on  these  grounds.  Here  it  is  a  case  of  pure  denominational 
rivalry. 

51 


RURAL  CHURCH   LH  E   IX  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

The  churches  receive  good  financial  support  from  the  people  of 
Clay  County.  Active  members  give  an  average  of  $22.82  per  year 
for  all  causes.  In  this  respect  Clay  County  stands  tenth  highest 
among  twenty-six  specimen  counties  in  the  nation.  Systematic 
finance,  along  with  a  greater  amount  of  pastoral  attention,  yields 
much  better  results  than  the  slovenly,  outworn  methods.  Those 
churches  which  use  a  budget  system  for  all  money  raised  and  make 
an  every  member  canvass  of  their  members  raise  almost  twice  as 
much  ])er  active  member  as  those  who  use  old  fashioned  methods 
or  no  methods  at  all. 

In  Jennings  County  the  results  of  systematic  finance  are  prac- 


HOW   THE    CHURCH    DOLLAR     15    RAISED 


TOWN    AND 
VILLAGE.  CHURCHES 


OTMtR  Methods 

09 


Colle-CtIon 
■■"     OS 


COUNTRY   CHURCHE.5 


Subscription 
.S3 


Other  Methods 
04 


CHART    V 


tically  the  same,  although  per  capita  giving  is  only  one-third  as 
high  as  in  Clay  County.  In  Clay  County  eighty-four  cents  out  of 
a  typical  church  dollar  are  raised  by  subscription,  in  Jennings  County 
seventy-two  cents.  Thirty-four  per  cent  of  all  money  disbursed 
by  local  churcli  treasurers  in  Clay  County  goes  for  pastors'  salaries. 
This  proportion  varies  from  21  per  cent  in  the  town  to  36  per  cent 
in  the  village  and  44  per  cent  in  the  country  churches.  The  propor- 
tion for  all  benevolences  is  36  per  cent,  varying  from  31  per  cent 
in  the  country  to  35  per  cent  in  the  village  and  43  per  cent  in  the 
town  churches.  Other  expenses  comprise  30  per  cent  of  the  total, 
these  being  highest  in  the  town  churches.  In  Jennings  County  53 
per  cent  of  the  disbursements  are  for  ]:)astcral  support,  26  per  cent 
for  missions  and  benevolences,  and  21  per  cent  for  all  other  causes. 
Proportions  vary  among  the  three  groups  very  much  as  in  Clay 
County.  These  figures  do  not  include  the  finances  of  the  Sunday 
schools  or  of  the  other  organizations  within  the  Church. 

52 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

Only  three  of  the  thirty-three  Iowa  churclies  receive  Home  Mis- 
sion aicL  One  is  the  onl}-  church  in  the  community,  and  has  a  resi- 
dent full-time  pastor.  In  another  community  the  aided  church  is 
one  of  two  and  hoth  congregations  have  non-resident  ministers. 
Race  harriers  are  keeping  these  churches  apart.  .\  third  church 
is  the  onlv  one  in  the  community.  One  of  the  forty-three  Indiana 
churches  receives  Home  ^Mission  aid.  Tliis  is  located  in  North 
Vernon,  where  there  are  eight  Protestant  and  one  Roman  Catholic 
churches,  for  a  population  of  3,500  in  town  and  1200  on  the  farms 
in   the   immediate  vicinity.     The   church   has   a   pastor   who   serves 


HOW  THE  CHURCH  DOLLAR  15  EXPENDED 


TOWN    AND 
VILLAGE   CHURCHES 


Other  Expenses 
32 


Mrb6IONS  &  bCNEvu 

.39 


COUNTRY   CHURCHE.5 


Other  ExptN^jt^i 
25  ' 


Missions  &  Benlv 
31 


CHART   VI 


another  point.  It  is  one  of  the  smallest  churches  in  the  comnumity 
and  has  received  $200  during  the  past  year  and  $1,900  during  the 
last  four  years.  Home  ^Mission  money  thus  appropriated  is  mis- 
appropriated. 

In  Clay  Countv  more  than  one-third  of  the  church  huildings 
have  hut  one  room,  in  Jennings  three-fourths  are  of  this  traditional 
type.  They  are  hold-overs  from  the  day  in  which  the  Church 
stressed  preaching  and  the  individualistic  gospel.  All  l)ut  four 
buildings  in  Clay  and  slightly  less  than  half  of  those  in  Jennings  are 
wooden  huildings.  Clay's  chm-ches  are  mostly  the  original  struc- 
tures, while  first  huildings  in.  Jennings  have  been  largely  replaced, 
but  again  only  by  one-room  structures.  The  one-room  school  build- 
ing is  a  disgrace  except  when  abandoned.  \\'hat  of  the  one-room 
churches?  In  Clav  new  and  larger  buildings  are  slowly  being 
erected.  Only  the  county  seat  of  Clay  can  be  said  to  have  modern, 
well-equipped  buildings  with  provision  for  social  and  recreational 
afifairs,  and  only  some  of  the  churches  of  North  \"ernon  in  Jennings 

53 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

County  may  be  put  into  such  a  class.  Thus  only  one  community 
in  each  county  has  modern  church  buildings.  In  Clay  County  eleven 
of  the  twelve  communities,  and  twenty-three  of  the  thirty-three 
churches  have  parsonages  ;  in  Jennings  only  three  of  the  fourteen 
communities  and  four  of  the  forty-one  churches  are  thus  equipped 
to  house  a  pastor. 

The  average  value  of  church  buildings  in  Clay  County  is  $5,732. 
The  averages  vary  from  $10,133  for  the  town,  $4,913  in  the  village, 


NO   ROOM    EXCEPT    FOR    PREACHIXG 
The    M.    E.    Church    at    Ilayden,    Jennings    County 

to  $3,183  in  the  country  churches.  In  Jennings  County  the  aver- 
age building  is  worth  $3,800 — that  of  the  town  churches  being  $14,- 
800,  the  village  churches  $3,750,  and  the  covmtry  churches  $1,913. 


The  Church  in  the  Community 

The  preceding  section  has  dealt  wMth  the  churches  in  the  past, 
how  well  they  are  established,  what  the  people  have  given  them 
in  money  and  support.  This  section  will  deal  with  the  contribution 
of  the  churches  to  the  people,  their  methods  of  ministry,  their  pro- 
grams of  service. 

The  first  requisite  of  the  Church  is  regular  and  frequent  service> 
In  Clay  County  twenty-nine  of  the  thirty-three  churches  have  four 

5i 


THE   RELIGION   OE   THE   PEOPEE 


or  more  monthly  services.  Jeiininji^s  County  li;is  onlv  twenty  out 
of  the  forty-one  cluu'ches  with  this  number  of  meetin^^s.  llalf  of 
them  have  only  two  services.  Only  five  churches  in  Jennings  and 
nine  in  Clay  join   in  union  services. 

r  Though  the  cliurchcs  have  done  little  to  !)ecome  ])ermanent  and 
increase  their  membership  during  the  last  ivw  decades,  neverthe- 
less their  programs,  if  meager,  are  a  real  contr'l)ution  to  community 
Hfe.  1  wenty-three  of  Cla\-  ('ount\'s  churclies  are  carrying  on  a 
general    program.      Six    churches    carry    on    some    form    of    special 


FREQUENCY    OF 
CHURCH    SERVICES 


20 
Churches 


4  5 

Services 

One  church    holds    no    services  at  present 


6  8 

per      Monfh 


CHART    VII 


missionary  service,  such  as  the  support  of  a  particular  worker  in 
some  foreign  field.  Ten  churches  participate  in  local  charital)le 
work  as  needed.  (  )ne  church  is  definitely  furthering  some  agricul- 
tural work.  Six  churches  are  engaged  in  some  form  of  social  or 
recreational  activity,  apart  from  those  of  specific  church  organiza- 
tions. Four  town  churches  only  carry  on  educational  work  out- 
side the  Sunday  school.  Six  town  churches  have  an  interest  in  the 
cultural  imi:)rovement  of  their  community.  .Six  churches  strive  to 
do  some  special  work  among  young  people,  and  nineteen  churches 
celebrate  festivals,  national  holidays,  anniversaries,  etc.  Two-thirds 
of  the  churches  at  least  carry  on  one  of  the  above  activities.  The 
same  is  true  of  those  of  Jennings  County. 

The  matter  of  church  program   in   Clay   County  may  he  briefly 

55 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IX  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

expressed  by  communities.  One  community  has  churches  with  a 
"good''  or  "very  good"  program  ;  in  three  communities  the  program 
of  the  church  is  "fair";  in  four  it  is  neghgible ;  and  in  the  remaining 
four  there  is  no  church  engaging  in  any  of  the  activities  enumerated 
above.  Jennings'  fourteen  communities  may  thus  be  classified  with 
respect  to  their  church  program :  one  good,  one  fair,  six  neghgible, 
while  the  remaining  six  have  no  general  church  program. 

Of  importance  in  this  connection  is  the  work  of  the  Sunday 
schools  and  other  organizations  within  the  churches.  The  religious 
leaders  of  Clay  County  have  endeavored  to  increase  the  interest  of 
all  church  Sunday  schools  in  better  methods  of  religious  education. 
A  two-day  county  conference  was  held,  at  which  national  denomi- 
national officers  were  present.  The  program  was  superior  to  that 
of  the  average  county  Sunday  school  convention,  a  tribute  to  the 
leadership  assumed  by  Clay  County.  It  has  been  noted  already 
that  the  Sunday  schools  are  the  principal  "feeders"  of  the  churches. 
All  but  one  of  the  churches  conduct  a  Bible  school.  The  county 
enrollment  ecjuals  only  76  per  cent  of  the  church  membership.  The 
school  program  is  evident  from  the  following:  Seven  schools  in 
three  communities  conduct  systematic  mission  study ;  three-fourths 
of  the  churches,  however,  do  nothing,  in  the  way  of  systematic 
missionary  instruction.  Fifteen  persons  have  gone  into  employed 
Christian  service  during  the  past  ten  years.  Only  one  town  school 
is  training  its  teachers.  The  county  seat  alone  has  organized  de- 
partments. In  onlv  two  communities  are  there  schools  that  provide 
social  and  recreational  events.  A  study  of  twenty  specimen  counties 
in  the  Middle  West  shows  that  Clay  County  is  slightly  above  the 
average  in  regard  to  religious  education.  All  but  one  of  the  forty- 
three  churches  in  Jennings  County  conduct  Sunday  schools.  They 
are  not  nearly  so  well  organized  as  those  of  Clay,  and  their  pro- 
gram is  very  meager. 

The  other  organizations  play  a  considerable  part  in  the  Church's 
program,  but  the  churches  have  not  begun  to  organize  all  age  and 
sex  groups.  Only  one  church  out  of  thirty-three  in  Clay  County 
has  organizations  for  men,  women,  boys  and  girls,  outside  of  the 
Sunday  school.  For  men  there  are  only  two  brotherhoods  with  a 
total  of  eighty  members — both  in  the  county  seat.  For  women  there 
are  thirty -four  organizations  with  L481  members,  at  least  one  in 
every  community.  Twenty-four  are  Ladies'  Aids,  nine  Missionary 
Societies,  one  a  Sewing  Circle.  There  are  two  Boy  Scout  troops 
with  thirty  members,  and  four  girls'  groups  with  ninety-eight  mem- 
bers,  including  two   Camp  Fire   Councils.     The  twenty-six  mixed 

56 


THE   RELIGION   OF   THE   PEOPLE 

organizations  include  nineteen  for  young  people — Christian  En- 
deavor Societies,  Epworth  Leagues,  Luther  Leagues,  etc.,  with  513 
members,  and  seven  for  children,  with  182  members.  These  are 
so  distributed  as  to  give  one  to  each  coniimmily.  The  churches  of 
Jennings  County  have  only  one  men's  club  with  forty  members, 
and  none  for  boys  or  girls.  There  are  thirty-one  of  the  usual  or- 
ganizations for  women  with  690  members  in  the  forty-three  churches, 
one  at  least  in  every  conuiiunity.    The  ten  Young  People's  Societies 


A    PICTURESQUE   BUILDING 
Dutcli    Reformed   Clnircli   Nortli    of    Kverly,    Clay    County. 


have  440  members,  while  the  three  mixed  organizations  have  ninety. 
In  appraising  the  value  of  the  Church's  community  program  a 
comparison  with  social  organizations  of  the  communities  was  made. 
Clay  County  has  thirty-six  social  organizations  with  3,.S95  members, 
including  twenty-two  lodges,  and  sixty-six  church  organizations 
with  a  constituency  of  2,439,  with  whiclvkre  grouped  a  large  number 
of  women's  and  young  people's  societies.  The  churches  have  the 
young  people  and  w^omen  to  a  greater  extent  tlirui  the  community 
organizations,  but  they  lag,  as  does  the  community,  in  reaching  boys 
and  girls.  Rut  the  churches  especially  fail  in  enlisting  men.  Jennings 
County  has  fifty-seven  church  organizations  with  a  constituency  of 
1,297,  and  forty  community  organizations  having  2.559  members, 
and  with  about  the  same  distribution  of  service  as  in  Clay.     The 

57 


RURAL  CHURCH  LH'E   IN  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

average  community  organization  in  Clay  County  has  ninety-four 
members,  that  within  the  church  thirty-nine.  In  Jennings,  there  is 
the  same  variation.  l"he  church  organizations  are  small  and  numer- 
ous, compared  to  those  in  the  community. 


Pastoral  Leadership 

"He  did  it,"  says  the  leading  layman  in  a  very  successful  coun- 
try   church,    pointing   to    his    pastor.      Those    three    words    should 


NUMBER  OF  PASTORATES 
DURING  PAST  TEN  YEARS 

33  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES 

17 
Churches 


5 

Churches 


S 

Churches 


1-2 


5-6 


3-4 
Pastorates 

3 churches  organized  since  1910 


CHART   VIII 


be  said  of  the  pastor  of  every  success f til  country  church  in  .Vmerica, 
because  in  the  right  kind  of  pastoral  leadership  is  the  key  to  the 
_whole  country  church  problem. 

For  the  present  discussion  there  are  two  outstanding  points  of 
importance.  First,  the  churches  are  handicapped  by  migratory 
ministers.  In  CTay  County  only  three  chtirches  out  of  thirty-three 
have -had  their  present  pastors  for  eight  years.  The  average  pas- 
torate is  slightly  less  than  three  years  in  length.  Even  this  condi- 
tion is  better  than  that  of  Jennings  County,  where  the  average  min- 
ister stays  in  his  charge  only  two  years.  Though  the  farm  tenant 
is  thought  to  be  a  handicap  to  the  Church  because  of  his  frequent 

58 


THE   RELIGION  OF  THE   PEOPLE 

shifting,  nevertheless  he  stays  on  Ills  farm  an  average  of  six  and 
three-tenths  years,  aeeor(Hng  to  Intercliurch  l'"arni  Tenantry  surveys 
of  556  specimen  farms  in  JUinois,  Indiana  and  Missouri,  ddie 
average  term  of  pastoral  service  in  twenty  specimen  mid-western 
counties  is  almost  three  years.  11ie  Church  cannot  complain  of 
the  tenant's  shifting  when  it  maint.ains  a  ministry  which  is  migra- 
tory. 

The  second  im]:iortant  point  is  the  inexperience  of  the  average 
minister  in  local  church  administration,     d'his  a])])lies  especially  to 


33     PROTESTANT     CHURCHES 

CLASSIFIED    ACCORDING   TO 

RESIDENCE   OF  MINISTERS 

21 
Churches 


Churches 


4 
Churches 


with  with  with 

No  Non-Resident        Resident 

Minister  Ministers  Ministers 


CHART    IX 


the  untrained  minister,  hut  also  to  man}-  o{  those  who  have  had 
special  training.  Throughout  the  Middle  West  only  37  per  cent 
of  the  town  and  country  ministers  are  college  and  seminary  grad- 
uates. But  many  of  the  college  and  seminary  men  are  not  rural 
church  engineers.  They  are  not  church  leaders  or  administrators 
or  commtmity  leaders.  There  are  fortunately  some  exceptions,  hut 
these  only  emphasize  the  dearth.  "W'e  know  that  the  country  church 
is  sick,  verv  sick,  hut  give  us  enough  money  and  the  right  kind  of 
men.  and  we  will  solve  the  prohlems,"  says  the  rural  secretary  of 
the  home  mission  hoard  of  a  large  denomination.  There  are  some 
who  lay  the  entire  hlame  for  our  present  weakness  in  the  country 


r>9 


RURAL  CHURCH  IJFE   IX  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

churches  on  the  inefficient  pastoral  leadership  so  apparent  every- 
where. In  college  and  seminary  the  ministerial  student  is  educated 
away  from  the  country.  Most  of  the  theologs  in  the  large  modern 
theological  seminaries  hope  even  to  avoid  the  country  church  stage, 
and  expect  to  start  their  careers  in  a  city  pulpit  as  city  pastor,  or 
as  assistant.  The Jae-k— e-f  reai  chrrrdr  ^mid~comnTtiTrf^^4€-a4€fs-m- 
the  town  and  country  pulpit  explains  very  much  of  the  country 
church's  deficiencies  to-day — her  lack  of  a  strong  foothold  in  the 

community  and  of  a  broad  and  vigorous  program: 

The  fuM  situation  in  regard  to  the  supply  of  mtnis'fers,  salaries 
and  training,  etc.,  may  be  gleaned  from  the  following  statements. 
Twenty-four  pastors  serve  twenty-nine  of  Clay  County's  churches. 
Fovir  congregations  were  temporarily  pastorless  at  the  time  of  the 


SALARY    SCALE    OF    THE    MINISTERS 

EACH   COLUMN   REPRESENTS  THE    SALARY    OF   ONE    MINISTER 


Average 

jTede  66 


Figures  include    iZbO  per  year   05   value   of  parsonage   when   provided 
One   minister   receives  no  salary 


CHART    X 


survey.  Twenty-one  of  the  twenty-nine  churches  have  resident 
pastors.  Of  these  sixteen,  or  two-thirds,  are  "full-time" — serve 
only  one  church  and  follow  no  other  occupation.  This  is  a  very 
high  proportion,  compared  to  the  thirty-five  mid-western  counties 
in  which  only  21  per  cent  of  the  churches  have  full-time  resident 
pastors.  In  the  country  there  is  less  pastoral  leadership  than  in 
the  village  or  town  churches.  The  thirteen  country  churches  have 
only  five  resident  ministers.  In  terms  of  communities,  four  out 
of  twelve  have  no  minister  within  their  bounds,  one  has  only  one 
part-time  pastor,  while  seven,  or  more  than  58  per  cent,  have  full- 
time  ministers.  For  the  thirty-five  counties  of  the  region,  only  39 
per  cent  of  the  communities  have  full-time  resident  pastors.     One 

60 


THE  RELIGION  OF   THE   PEOPLE 

pastor  of  the  twenty- four  in  Clay  County  is  also  a  farmer.  In  the 
region  nearly  one  out  of  ten  ministers  follows  another  occupation. 
All  but  one  pastor  have  free  parsonages. 

The  average  yearly  salary  for  ministers  is  $1,608.66,  this  figure 
including  the  sum  of  $250,  added  ar])itrarily  to  each  salary  of  a  pas- 
tor with  free  parsonage  privileges.  The  lowest  salary,  $467.25,  is 
paid  to  the  pastor  who  also  farms,  while  the  highest  amount,  $2,950, 
is  received  by  a  county  seat  minister.     Nine  pastors  have  had  col- 


A    GOOD    TYPE    OF    I'AKSONAOE    IN    CLAY    COUNTY 

lege  and  seminary  training;  th.ree  have  had  college  training  only 
and  four  seminary  or  Bible  school  only,  while  eight  report  no  si)ecial 
training  for  the  ministry.  Eighteen  of  the  twenty-four  ministers 
personally  ow'n  automobiles." 

In  Jennings  County  there  is  much  less  pastoral  leadership.  This 
is  a  particular  weakness.  Usually  church  prosperity  depends  upon 
at  least  a  good  supply  of  resident  pastors.  Only  one  community 
of  fourteen  has  a  full-time  resident  minister ;  two  conmiunities 
have  part-time  pastors,  while  the  eleven  remaining  kave  none  living 
within  their  bounds.  Only  eight  of  the  twenty-three  pastors  have 
free  parsonages.  Twelve  of  the  twenty-three  i)astors  follow  other 
occupations  to  earn  a  living.      The  average   salary  is   only  $919  a 

61 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

year,  this  figure  also  including  $250  as  the  estimated  cash  value 
of  parsonages  for  the  pastors  thus  provided.  In  Tippecanoe  County, 
Indiana,  in  the  west  central  part  of  the  State  and  a  much  more 
prosperous  section,  the  average  salary  of  ministers  is  $1,344. 

Church  Parish  and  Community  Boundary 

It  is  a  very  conservative  statement  that  not  more  than  three  or 
four  of  the  country  pastors  or  congregations  of  Clay  or  Jennings 
Counties,  and  not  more  than  8  or  10  per  cent  of  the  pastors  in  the 
jMiddle  West,  have  ever  paid  any  systematic  attention  to  the  bound- 
aries or  areas  of  their  parishes.* 

The  church  members  are  grouped  as  they  are  by  chance  or  by 
physical  circumstance,   such   as   the   condition   of   roads   or   the  lay 


of  the  land.  In  a  few  cases,  the  church  parish  is  larger  in  area 
than  the  community  boundary.  But  many  of  these  parishes  are 
large  because  of  a  few  scattered  families  living  on  the  extremes 
of  the  parish  areas.  Few  churches  have  compact  parishes,  or  have 
tried  to  have  them.  The  ordinary  church  parish  is  not  coterminous 
with  the  community  of  which  the  church  is  a  part.  The  Church, 
however,  has  never  known  its  community,  and  therefore  has  never 
ministered  to  the  entire  area,  not  to  mention  all  ages  and  groups 
in  the  comnumity.  The  Interchurch  survey  was  the  first  to  make 
any  study  of  the  rural  church  ])arish,  and  this  took  into  account 
only  areas.  Even  tliia  irLvea.tigatioii  reveals  the  great  lack  of  knowl- 
edge en  the  part  of  the  average  local  church  and  its  pastor  in  re- 
gard to  the  systematic  mapping  of  his  field  in  its  relation  to  the 
community.  Just  a  glance  at  the  map  reveals  much  overlapping 
of  parish  boundaries,  even  in  some  of  the  small  communities,  and 
on  the  other  hand,  some  sections  of  the  counties  where  the  churches 
claim  no  members  at  all.  These  maps  illustrate  the  haphazard  way 
in  which  the  country  church  plans  or  neglects  to  reach  the  community. 
Ignorance  of  community  boundaries  is,  of  course,  not  the  only 
factor.  In  Clay  County,  as  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  section  under 
distribution  of  churches,  six  communities  have  denominational  divi- 
sions on  account  of  racial  preference.  The  church  made  up  of 
Danish  immigrants  and  their  descendants  reaches  them  very  well, 
and  its  parish  contains  only  that  part  of  the  community  in  which 
its  constituency  lives.     But  in  the  other  half  of  the  communities, 

*  Sec  the  maps  on  pages  45  and  46  on  which  this  discussion  is  based.  The 
church  parishes  are  shown  in  heavy  solid  lines  and  the  community  boun- 
daries  in   heavy   broken   lines. 

62 


THE   RELIGION  OI'  THE  PEOPLE 


Mil 


TllK   CHURCH    HOME   OF   PROSPEROUS    IMMICRANTS 

IV.'Uiish    I.iitlicran    riiinxli    ;mil    Parsonage 
at   Royal,   Clay   t'uuiity 


63 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE  IX  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

where  there  is  no  racial  factor,  there  is  no  such  easy  explanation. 
Lack  of  a  resident  pastor  often  means  a  small  parish.  And  denomi- 
national rivalry  in  the  village  keeps  pastors  from  hranching  out  into 
the  entire  comnnmity.  In  Jennings  County,  where  there  are  no 
racial  Ijarriers  hetween  Protestant  churches,  the  limitation  is  due 
to  lack  of  vision  and  inadequate  leaders  of  power  and  personality. 

Of  especial  concern  in  Clay  County,  and  all  others  in  which  the 
farmer  has  begun  to  attend  the  village  and  town  church,  are  the 
church  parishes  at  the  trade  center.  Usually  the  American  village, 
which  begins  its  life  as  a  service  station  for  people  on  farms,  and 
which  always  depends  on  the  trade  of  the  operating  farmers,  be- 
comes exclusive  and  snobbish.  It  is  made  up  of  tradesmen  and  re- 
tired farmers,  and  in  some  cases  there  is  also  a  small  manufacturing 
element.  In  the  ordinary  trade  area  there  is  a  lack  of  democracy 
and  the  farmer  is  not  much  at  home  in  the  village.  He  comes  to 
buy  and  sell,  to  see  the  movies  and  perhaps  to  dance,  but  he  is  on 
the  whole  apart  from  the  social  life  of  the  village.  The  village 
church  does  not  draw  a  high  proportion  of  the  farmers.  But  mem- 
bership figures  of  Clay  County  will  give  some  idea  of  the  concen- 
tration of  church  life  in  town  and  villages. 

The  country  churches  have,  to  begin  with,  less  pastoral  attention, 
as  has  been  noted  in  the  section  on  pastoral  leadership.  Some  vil- 
lage and  town  pastors,  who  serve  country  churches  in  addition  to 
those  at  the  trade  center,  are  constantly  trying  to  induce  farmers  to 
drive  to  town  to  church.  The  popularity  of  the  automobile  helps 
to  make  this  possible.  An  examination  of  the  figures  shows  that 
the  town  and  village  churches  reach  443  farm  families  in  the  county, 
while  the  country  chvuxhes  have  on  their  rolls  only  207.  While  the 
country  churches  have  184  operating  farmers  as  members,  those  in 
village  and  town  have  361,  again  twice  the  total  of  the  country 
churches.  The  town  and  village  churches  each  reach  about  equal 
numbers  of  farmers,  demonstrating  that  the  county-seat  churches 
are  reaching  operating  farmers   from  the  surrounding  community. 

Already  eight  of  the  twelve  communities  of  the  county  have  only 
churches  at  their  trade  center — hamlet,  village  or  town.  Consider- 
ing only  the  four  communities  which  have  country  churches  in  com- 
petition with  those  of  town  or  village,  it  appears  that  those  at  the 
trade  centers  have  three  times  as  many  operating  farmers  on  the) 
roll  as  the  country  churches,  and  reach  slightly  over  four  times  as  / 
many  farm  families.  Further,  75  per  cent  of  the  churches  at  the 
center  are  growing,  while  only  40  per  cent  of  those  in  the  country 
have  made  a  net  gain  during  the  past  ten  years.     A  study  of  the 

64 


THE  RELIGION  01'   THE  PEOPJ.E 

country  churches  reveals  lliat  40  i)er  cent  of  those  in  competition 
with  churches  in  village  or  town  have  made  a  .ij^ain,  while  60  per 
cent  of  those  which  are  the  only  churches  in  the  communitN'  have 
grown  during  the  past  ten  years.  The  same  tendency  occm-s  in 
some  other  sections.  In  a  county  in  Kansas,  807  farmers  are  en- 
rolled on  the  hooks  of  the  village  churches  whicli  have  a  total 
of  3,159  memhers.  In  a  numher  of  Ohio  comities  an  average 
of  twelve  country  churches  have  heen  ahandoned  in  the  j)ast  fe\/ 
years,  while  the  town  and  village  churches  are  most  prosperous. 

Churches  of  Distinction 

Perhaps  one  town  and  country  church  out  of  fifty  is  an  out- 
standing success.  It  has  achieved  such  results  in  the  community 
under  such  efficient  pastoral  leadership,  that  its  story  should  he 
known  and  provide  an  example.  Usually  in  the  Middle  West,  the 
county-seat  town  h.as  the  strongest  churches.  Attention  luay  well 
he  called  to  some  of  the  work  being  done  in  Spencer,  the  county 
seat  of  Clay  County,  Iowa.  ( )ne  of  the  big  problems  is  always 
that  of  the  young  people,  and  especially  during  the  past  few  years 
is  this  matter  coming  to  the  fore.  One  county-seat  pastor  says  of 
his  work  among  young  people :  "The  church  must  supply  them 
with  amusements.  What  kind  will  largely  depend  ujjou  the  means 
and  equipment  of  the  church.  Basketball  and  other  indoor  games 
should  be  promoted  in  winter  time.  We  have  socials  for  the 
young  people  and  games  in  our  basement.  One  Sunday  afternoon 
we  had  a  five  o'clock  social,  served  refreshments,  then  played  games 
and  went  to  the  evening  church  lueetings." 

Or  one  may  take  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Episcojx'd  church 
which  is  made  possible  by  its  excellent  ecjuipment  and  resources. 
The  church  houses  its  boys'  club  in  a  separate  building.  There 
are  a  swimming  pool,  gymnasium,  extra  rooms  for  educational 
work,  and  best  of  all  a  full  time  director  to  supervise  the  activities 
of  the  plant.  Out  of  740  resident  members  283  are  young  people 
under  twenty-one.  With  the  rooms  in  the  gymnasium  and  those 
in  the  church  building  it  is  possible  for  this  church  to  have  thirty 
Sunday  school  classes  and  really  grade  its  instruction.  There  are 
nine  other  organizations  within  the  church,  reaching  all  age  and 
sex  groups.  During  the  year  previous  to  the  survey  there  was  a 
net  gain  of  forty-nine  members,  eighteen  of  whom  were  young 
people  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  There  are  classes  for  all 
young  people  over  eight  years  of  age  in  gymnastics  and  swimming. 

65 


RURAL  CHURCH  LH-E   IX  TH?:  MIDDLE  WEST 

There  are  "hikes"  for  the  boys,  girls  and  young  i)eople.  A  study 
class  in  evangelism  is  attended  by  the  leaders  of  the  church.  The 
church  increases  interest  in  missions  by  responsibihty  for  si)ecial 
work  of  its  own :  it  supports  a  foreign  missionary  on  full  time, 
twelve  native  workers  in  foreign  fields,  two  students  in  the  Home 
Mission  fields  in  America,  and  gives  i)artial  support  to  a  teacher 
in  Mexico,  and  to  several  other  teachers  and  home  missionaries. 
'1  be  Sunday  school  anrl  Epworth  leagues  have  produced  several 
pageants.  A  deaconess  is  employed  on  full  time  for  local  work, 
and  she  concentrates  upon  ministr}^'  to  girls  and  young  women  of 
the  parish  and  community.  The  pastor  has  an  automobile  to  aid 
him  in  his  pastoral  work.  And  with  all  of  this  work  done  the 
pastor  says :  "We  should  have  lyceum  courses  and  summer  Chau- 
tauquas,  also  more  literature  and  musical  programs.  The  church 
should  get  aside  at  least  $200  to  finance  a  Chautauqua  for  the 
young  people  of  the  community." 

"This  church  is  a  community  asset !  This  church  has  something 
real  and  priceless  to  contribute  to  the  comnumity,"  preached  the 
pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  cburcb  when  he  went  to  North 
Vernon.  Jennings  County,  Indiana,  four  years  ago.  "It  is  here 
to  give  of  itself  and  to  serve — and  no  one  should  miss  what  it  can 
give."  That  remark  was  made  in  a  church  which  was  little  re- 
spected by  its  community.  Moreover,  the  minister  could  not  have 
come  under  less  i)romising  circumstances.  A  tornado  had  hit  the 
town  and  the  church  four  months  before.  When  he  went  to  inspect 
the  building  in  whicli  he  was  to  preach,  he  found  at  least  a  ton 
of  brick  on  tlie  front  steps,  the  windows  were  covered  with  rough 
boards,  and  no  service  had  been  held  for  months.  TUit  he  outlined 
his  work  carefully  and  set  out  to  demonstrate  what  he  was  preaching. 

He  challenged  the  men  of  the  church  and  comnumity.  organized 
a  club,  and  set  before  them  definite  pieces  of  service,  among  them 
a  systematic  nu'nistry  to  the  poor  of  the  community.  Instead  of 
letting  the  poor  go  along  until  some  great  need  developed,  and  then 
taking  a  collection,  the  pastor  proposed  a  fund  which  should  be 
distributed  in  a  business-like  way.  The  men  took  to  it.  In  cash 
during  the  ])ast  year  $125  was  wisely  distributed,  in  addition  to 
many  other  much  more  valuable  gifts  in  "kind."  The  men  have 
banquets,   and  other  social  times. 

The  women  became  so  numerous  in  their  society  that  now  they 
must  have  six  divisions.  Every  woman  in  the  church  belongs  to 
the  Women's  Society  which  takes  an  active  part  in  social  and 
missionary   affairs.     Four  years   ago   the    Sunday   school   had    125 

66 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

members.  This  was  reorganized.  Pastors,  teachers  and  officers 
began  to  convince  others  that  they  were  there  to  serve  and  gradu- 
ally more  came  in.  The  membership  has  increased  100  per  cent 
in  the  last  four  years,  Its  attendance  on  special  occasions  runs  to 
325.  The  Ep worth  League  now  numbers  ninety,  but  it  is  such  a 
live  organization  that  it  draws  many  more  than  its  own  members 
to  every  meeting.     The  average  attendance  is   110.     It  emphasizes 


WHAT    THE     KlGliT     I'ASTOR    CAN     DO 

The  M.  K.  Churcli  at  Xrrtli  Vernrn,  Jennings  Ccuiity, 
whose    pastor    found    it    four    years    ago    in    ruins 
and  unres])ected  and  lias  made   it,   as  lie  prom- 
ised lie  would,   "a  community  asset  " 


missionary  service,  and  every  two  months  holds  a  s])ecial  meeting 
when  pageants  are  presented  and  other  programs  given. 

The  young  men  and  women  are  well  organized  through  the 
Sunday  school  classes.  ( )ne  young  women's  class  numbers  forty- 
five.  The  pastor  himself  is  "strong  for"  giving  the  young  folks 
opportunity,  constant  service,  as  well  as  a  "'good  time."  A\'hen 
he  was  a  boy,  living  forty  miles  from  a  railroad  in  Kentucky,  he 
asked  a  teacher  in  the  community  to  conduct  evening  classes  in 
the  church,  since  that  was  tlie  most  convenient  place.  The  teacher 
agreed  to  do  it,  provided  they  could  first  secure  the  use  of  the 
building.  They  went  to  the  trustees  and  elders,  who  decided  that 
their  church  must  be  used  only  to  worship  God.     That  drt)ve  the 

67 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

young  petitioner  from  the  church.  For  eleven  years  he  never  went 
near  one.  But  the  old  experience  hung  over  him.  The  elders  and 
trustees  in  the  old  home  church  must  have  been  wrong.  The  church 
could  do  better  than  that.  There  was  only  one  way  to  prove  it — ■ 
to  go  into  the  ministry  himself.  Finally,  after  a  long  struggle, 
he  worked  his  way  through  college  and  theological  seminary.  Now 
he  is  striving  to  use  all  the  resources  of  the  church  to  minister  to 
the  young  people  in  just  as  many  ways  as  possible.  The  im]M-ove- 
ments  that  have  been  made  in  the  cHurch  building  have  all  been 
to  provide  more  room  for  social  afifairs.  and  to  make  the  vSunday 
school  more  efficient.  Seven  thousand  dollars  have  been  spent  on 
improving  the  building  in  the  past  few  years,  and  all  of  it  has 
been  raised  as  needed. 

"This  church  is  a  community  asset,"  preaches  the  pastor.  And 
because  of  his  works  the  people  believe  him,  come  to  the  church 
and  find  it  so. 


68 


CHAPTER  IV 

Conclusions  and  Recommendations 
What  the  Church  Can  Do 

THE  cliurclies  for  the  most  ])arl  have  stood  aloof  (hiring  the 
])erio(l  of  coi Operative,  economic  development.  Only  a  small 
proi)(jrtion  of  the  pastors  liave  given  encouragement  or  as- 
sistance. Should  this  be  so?  Or  has  the  Church  a  stake  in  a 
movement  like  the  cooperative  which  promises  to  make  rural 
economic  life  more  democratic  ?^  The  tendency  to  build  u])  one 
man,  one  vote  organizations,  with  distribution  of  profits  accord- 
ing to  the  extent  to  which  the  individual  uses  the  organization  rather 
than  by  the  amount  of  money  invested,  is  surely  one  of  the  prom- 
ising signs  on  the  horizon  to-day.  The  cooperative  will  more 
efihciently  distribute  the  farmers'  supi)lies  and  ])r()ducts,  w'U  add 
to  their  income,  and  will  give  them  more  economic  and  political 
power.  It  may  not  be  an  overstateiuent  to  say  that  the  co(>perative 
is  the  "greatest  thing"  in  rural  life  in  the  Middle  West  to-day. 
To  make  it  a  powerful  force  in  building  a  better  social  order,  is  the 
task  before  the  rural  social  engineer.  To  make  it  an  organization 
which  will  aid  in  the  building  of  a  better  commimity :  to  get  it 
to  look  outward  at  least  as  much  as  inward;  to  give  it  vision 
beyond  mere  class  or  group;  to  give  it  real  community  sjiirit,  a 
desire  to  be  an  agency  for  service  as  well  as  an  agency  for  the 
saving  of  money  in  costs  of  distribution — this  is  a  worthy  task 
for  the  rural  religious  leader.  Idiere  is  for  the  local  church  a 
middle  path  between  indifference  and  actual  partici])ation.  Some 
progressive  ministers  take  a  membershi])  in  the  farm  burerui.  'WTiy" 
iiet-the-leea^l-ehia-reh ?  No  institution  is  more  sensitive  to  economic 
cycles  than  the  Church.  It  should  support  the  agency  working  for 
abiding  prosperity. 

The  harmful  effects  of  land  speculation,  increasing  tcMiancy,  and 
attendant  problems,  emphasize  the  fact  tliat  tlie  (hurch  should 
have  some  share  in  their  solution.  It  can  and  should  say  a  word, 
or  more  than  a  word,  to  help.  It  is  a  fact,  for  instance,  that  it  is 
poor  economics  for  the  farm  tenant  to  use  the  labor  of  his  wife  and 
children  to  aid  in  the  advance  to  ownership.     1die  man  who  studies 

69 


D 


V^ 


RURAL  CHURCH  LH'E   IN  THE  .AHDDLE  WEST 

scientific  agriculture  and  applies  his  knowledge,  can  get  to  owner- 
ship more  (|uickly  than  the  man  who  follows  the  precedent  of 
using  the  constant  lahor  of  his  family.  Tlie  Church  may  well 
'preach  facts  like  that.  The  Church  should  declare  for  a  longer 
lease  for  the  tenant,  for  crop  rent  over  against  cash  rent.  It 
should  assist  in  getting  long-term  credit  for  those  farmers  who 
now  need  it  most  or  deserve  it,  so  that  as  many  as  possible  will 
survive  the  present  depression  with  at  least  a  home  and  a  farm 
to  work.  As  it  now  is.  they  contracted  large  debts  when  money 
was  cheap,  and  must  pay  from  slender  profits  when  money  is  dear. 

For  a  most  valuable  lesson  the  clun-ches  should  study  school 
consolidation.  In  this  respect  the  rural  school  and  its  leaders  are 
far  ahead  of  the  country  church  and  its  adnn'nistrators.  The  school 
leaders  are  endeavoring  to  build  up  few  and  strong  institutions 
at  the  trade  centers  that  will  employ  fewer  teachers  and  yet  have 
an  aljler  stafi".  The  consolidated  school  gives  greater  opportunity 
to  the  rural  child.  The  trained  superintendent  can  get  closer  to 
the  i)U1mIs.  Instead  of  having  a  large  number  of  small  ungraded 
schools  scattered  over  the  trade  area,  one  efficient  school  center 
is  rapidly  taking  their  places.  The  lessons  of  efficiency  are  being 
learned  in  the  schools.  How  long  before  the  rural  church  will 
begin  to  move  in  this  direction?  The  movement  for  consolidation 
in  the  schools  will,  however,  serve  as  an  object  lesson  to  young 
and  old  in  the  churches  in  the  Middle  A\>st.  They  should  now 
plan  to  eliminate  the  large  number  of  extra  churches  wdiich  are 
not  worth  what  they  cost.  This  weeding-out  process  cannot  begin 
too  soon.  Many  churches  deserve  extinction.  They  are  sectarian 
in  spirit,  lack  commum'ty  vision  and  exist  for  the  worship  of  a 
mere  handful  of  inili\i(luals.  In  getting  rid  of  the  extra  churches 
local  desires  should  be  consulted.  If  the  comnnmity  wants  a 
federated  churcli,  then  let  it  have  all  assistance  ])ossible  from  the 
respective  denominations.  If  an  undenominational  community 
church  is  desired,  then  let  it  be  tried,  at  least.  If  all  but  one 
denominational  church  should  withdraw,  and  this  one  be  made 
responsible  for  a  certain  program  in  the  field,  then  all  the  forces 
which  have  to  do  with  rural  church  administration  should  help 
in  such  a  readjustment.  Usually  trading  of  local  churches  can  be 
accomplished  with  benefit  to  the  communities  and  the  denominations 
concerned. 

One  need  hardlv  em]^hasizc  the  importance  of  encouraging  the 
forces  which  are  making  for  prevention  of  disease.  It  is  better  to 
prevent  sickness  and  Ijlindness  than  to  heal  the  sick  or  give  sight 

70 


CONCLUSIONS  AND   RFX'O.MMKNDATIONS 

to  the  blind.  'Jlic  religious  forces  are  prominent  in  the  four  com- 
munities of  Clay  county  which  arc  supporting-  the  pul)lic  health 
nurse.  No  (loul)t  the  local  religious  forces  are  usually  ready  to 
cooperate  in  such  work.  Ikil  there  is  great  need  for  ex])ansion. 
Every  county  in  the  Middle  West  should  have  at  least  one  ])ul)lic 
health  nurse.  'Die  churches  should  encourage  sucli  ])ul)hc  health 
service,  and  ])articipate  in  tlie  Red  Cross  program  for  rural  nurs- 
ing, etc. 

Library  extension  is  another  social  and  educati\-e  factor.     Library 


AN    EX.\MPLE   OF    A    ONE-ROOM    CHURCH    BUILniX: 

Tlic   r>;iiuist   Cluircli   at   Coniniiskej-,   Jennings   Ctiinity 


extensifju  is  scrv.ee  given  l)y  tlie  city,  town  or  village  institution 
to  the  surrounding  countryside  through  l)ranch  libraries  in  the 
smaller  centers,  or  the  distriliution  of  books  by  auto  or  wagon. 
'J  he  libraries  have  already  done  much  better  tlian  the  churches 
in  organizing  their  service  in  centers,  and  in  carrying  their  goods 
to  the  peoi)le.  The  churches  may  utilize  these  extension  methods 
in  gospel  propaganda  and   in  serving  a  scattered  community. 

The  organization  of  social  .and  recreational  life  has  nnich  re- 
ligious significance.  The  C  hurch  has  lagged  here,  as  in  coc'iperation 
with  other  agencies.  It  is  a  religious  duty  to  su])ply  the  means  of 
social  and  recreational  development  just  as  much  as   spiritual  de- 

71 


RURAL  CHURCH  LHE   IX  THE   MIDDLE  WEST 

velopment.  In  communities  which  lack  social  and  recreational 
organizations  for  all  age  and  sex  groups — and  most  communities 
lack  them  for  from  one  to  three  groups — the  Church  or  the  local 
churches  cooperatively  should  organize  women's  cluhs.  hoy  and 
girl  scout  troops,  civic  organizations,  community  cluhs,  etc.  Where 
there  is  only  one  church  this  should  so  expand  its  program  as  to 
have  some  of  these  organizations  and  activities  as  part  of  the  work 
of  the  local  church.  In  this  way  the  church  can  better  serve  the 
people  and  identify  itself  with  community  life. 

The  chief  concern  of  the  local  churches  should  be  an  efficient 
pastoral  service.  If  there  were  enough,  men  of  the  .right  kind  in 
the  country  pulpit,  the  sickness  of  the  country  church  would  soon 
be  cured.  Especially  do  we  need  able  local  church  administrators. 
Local  church  administration  is  especially  difficult  in  Protestantism! 
The  causes  are  twofold  :  because  ministers  have  no  practical  train[ 
ing,  and  because  the  inexperienced  laymen,  to  whom  church  busij 
ness  is  a  side  issue,  usually  control  the  church  organization.  Such 
a  local  church  organization  is  desirable,  but  in  order  to  function 
it  must  be  entrusted  to  trained  and  experienced  leaders.  Rural 
communities  want  evangelists  with  a  constructive,  aggressive  pro- 
gram and  likewise  versed  in  the  financial  problems  that  may  con- 
front the  local  church.  They  must  be  equal  to  dealing  with  ])rob- 
lems  of  local  church  distribution,  courageous  enough  to  leave  the 
field  that  there  may  be  a  federated  church,  willing  to  recommend 
that  their  own  denomination  withdraw  for  the  sake  of  one  efficient 
church  and  that  the  Kingdom  of  ("lod  may  be  hastened.  As  execu- 
tives they  should  inaugurate  a  virile,  comprehensive  ])rograni  of 
missionary  and  community  service,  and  create  a  plant  wdtli  adequate 
buildings  to  concrete  their  vision.  Men  of  this  type  cannot  fail 
to  utilize  for  the  church  every  social  and  educational  agency  with 
statesmanlike  tact  and  understanding.  Only  Christian  personality 
and  leadership  will  solve  the  problems  of  religious  education,  pro- 
gram, and  equipment  in  the  country  church.  There  is  great  need 
for  giving  training  to  all  men  entering  the  ministry,  for  instruction 
to  untrained  pastors  on  the  field  and  special  post-graduate  schools 
for  men  who  have  had  college  and  seminary  work. 

The  ]M-ol>lem  of  church  membership  concerns  methods  of  growth 
and  enlistment.  The  only  gain  in  church  membership  in  Clay 
County,  comparecf  with  the  total  population,  was  recorded  within 
the  past  four  years.  In  Jennings  County  church  membership  and 
population  have  been  steadily  declining  for  the  past  twenty  years. 
As   a   remedy   the    Sunday   schools,    already   the    principal    feeders 


CONCLLSIOXS  AND   RECOMMENDATIONS 

of  the  churches,  should  be  strengthened.  'I'he  better  kind  of  re- 
hgious  education  conferences,  one  of  wbich  Clay  has  ah'eady  hekl, 
will  be  more  frecjuent.  Numbers  of  efiicienl  teachers  should  l>e 
trained.  The  Sunday  school,  besides  providing  religious  instruc- 
tion, should  take  a  more  active  part  in  Uie  social  and  recreational 
life  of  the  people.  There  should  be  classes  to  prepare  for  church 
membership  in  every  church  or  Sunday  school.  Already  steady 
recruiting  and  gains  have  Ijeen  traced  to  such  classes.  What  needs 
to  be  stressed  in  evangelistic  luethods  is  a  more  current  program. 
The  protracted  meetings  may  be  held  if  desired,  and  the  Church 
must  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  real  evangelism  is  necessary, 
that  gains  by  confession  of  faith  are  the  more  substantial.  But 
the  most  effective  evangelism  begins  by  holding  on  to  what  you 
have.  Inactive  members  and  non-residents  are  some  of  the  worst 
kinds  of  losses.  To  make  the  church  ])rogram  wide  and  attractive, 
to  put  the  membership  to  work  so  far  as  possible,  is  the  duty 
of  every  evangelistic  program.  Any  high  proportion  of  non-resident 
members  should  be  the  concern  of  all  denominational  adminis- 
trators. Many  of  the  non-resident  members  of  the  rural  church 
live  in  other  rural  comnumities,  and  should  belong  to  the  church 
where  they  live.  There  is  to-day  no  efficient,  courageous  or  un-  \ 
selfish  follow  up  of  the  non-resident  member.  --^ 

— ^Church  parishes  should  be  planned.  House  to  house  canvasses 
should  be  made.  ]ireferably  l)y  the  local  churches  working  coopera- 
tively. Every  home  should  be  mapped,  and  the  relation  of  every 
member  to  the  church  and  its  activities  traced  and  recorded  with 
the  pastor  who  should  study  his  conmiunity  Ijoundaries.  A  ma]) 
of  every  county  in  the  Middle  West  showing  |)arish  and  comnumity 
boundaries  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  pastor,  and  all  should 
use  the  maps.  A  canvass,  plus  a  study  of  the  comnumity  area 
and  its  relation  to  the  parish  area,  will  mean  a  great  advance. 
Church  parishes  would  no  longer  be  haphazard.  The  church  i)arish 
would  extend  to  the  community  boundary  at  least,  instead  of  cover- 
ing only  parts  of  it.  Then  there  is  a  large  problem  surrounding 
the  concentration  of  rural  life  in  the  village.  It  appears  that  the 
country  church  is  losing  ground  and  that  the  church  of  the  future 
will  be  in  the  town  and  village  trade  center.  I'.ut  the  village  is  apt 
to  l)e  somewhat  snobbish.  The  consequence  is  that  the  farmers  are 
usually  the  most  ignored  grouj*  in  the  community.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  that  the  village  church  begin  to  measure  up  to  its  possi- 
bilities. It  must  be  instilled  with  a  passion  to  serve  the  last  person 
on  the  last  farm  in  the  community.     A'arious  denominations  should 

73 


RURAL  CHURCH  LHE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

make  demonstration  parishes  in  communities  with  villages  where 
there  are  no  country  churches  or  where  they  are  disappearing.  Pas- 
tors familiar  with  the  problem  should  be  placed  in  these  charges. 
They  will  endeavor  to  serve  the  retired  farmer,  the  trader,  the  in- 
dustrial worker,  if  he  exists,  and  the  operating  farmer.  The  village 
church  must  arrange  its  special  services  at  hours  to  suit  the  farmers. 
It  must  saturate  itself  with  sincere  cordiality.  It  must  become  a 
service  station  in  rural  religious  life  like  similar  agencies  in  economic 
life.  Just  as  the  village  sells  the  farmer  his  shoes  so  can  it  provide 
for  him  a  religious  center. 

Most  of  all  is  the  future  of  the  country  church  bound  up  with 
the  country  ministry.  The  study  of  the  successful  churches  helps__^i 
to  emphasize  that  fact.  \M'ien  the  average  country  minister  is  more 
efficient ;  when  he  ceases  to  look  upon  the  country  church  as  a 
mere  stepping  stone  to  the  city  pulpit ;  when  the  various  denomina- 
tions professionalize  the  country  ministry  and  train  men  to  be  rural 
social  and  religious  engineers,  then  only  will  the  Church  gather 
power,  widen  and  intensify  her  local  program,  and  launch  out  to 
create  that  ideal  community  in  which  there  will  be  one  church  serving 
all  of  the  area  and  all  of  the  groups.  A  community  at  one  with 
the  church  parish  is  the  goal.  ^_^ 


74 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  I 
Methodology  and  Definitions 

The  method  used  in  the  Town  and  Country  Surveys  of  tlie  Inter- 
church  ^^'orl(l  Alovement  and  the  Committee  on  Social  and  Re- 
Hgious  Surveys  thffers  from  the  method  of  earher  surveys  in  this 
field  chiefly  in  the  following  particulars  : 

1.  "Rural"  was  defined  as  including  all  [jopulation  living  out- 
side of  incorjjorated  places  of  over  5,000.  Previous  surveys  usually 
excluded  all  places  of  2,500  population  or  over,  which  follows  the 
United  States  Census  definition  of  "rurcd." 

2.  'idle  local  unit  for  the  assenihling  of  material  was  the  com- 
munity, regarded,  usually,  as  the  trade  area  of  a  town  or  village 
center.  Previous  surveys  usually  took  the  minor  civil  division  as 
the  local  unit.  The  disadvantage  of  the  community  unit  is  that 
census  and  other  statistical  data  are  seldom  available  on  that  basis, 
thus  increasing  both  the  labor  involved  and  the  ]-)OSsibility  of  error. 
The  great  advantage  is  that  it  presents  its  results  assembled  on  the 
basis  of  units  which  have  real  social  significance,  which  the  minor 
civil  division  seldom  has.  This  advantage  is  considered  as  more 
than  compensating  for  the  disadvantage. 

3.  The  actual  service  area  of  each  church  as  indicated  by  the 
residences  of  its  memlxM-s  and  adherents  was  mapped  and  studied. 
This  was  an  entirely  new  departure  in  rural  surveys. 

Four  chief  processes  were  involved  in  the  actual  field  work  of 
these  surveys : 

1.  The  determination  of  the  community  units  and  of  any  sub- 
sidiary neighborhood  units  included  within  them.  The  community 
boundaries  were  ascertained  by  noting  the  location  of  the  last 
family,  on  each  road  leading  out  from  a  given  center,  who  regularly 
traded  at  that  center.  These  points,  indicated  on  a  map,  were  con- 
nected with  each  other  by  straight  lines.  The  area  about  the  given 
center  thus  enclosed  \vas  regarded  as  the  comnumity. 

2.  The  study  of  the  economic,  social  and  institutional  life  of 
each  community  as  thus  defined. 

3.  The  location  of  each  church   in   the  county,  the  determina- 

77 


RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

tion  of  its  parish  area  and  the  detailed  stiuly  of  its  equipment, 
finance,  membership,  organization,  program  and  leadership. 

4.  The  preparation  of  a  map  showing  in  addition  to  the  usual 
physical  features,  the  boundaries  of  each  community,  the  location, 
parish  area  and  circuit  connections  of  each  church  and  the  residence 
of  each  minister. 

The  following  are  the  more  important  definitions  used  in  the 
making  of  these  surveys  and  the  preparation  of  the  reports : 

Geographical — 

City — a  center  of  over  5,000  population.  Not  included  within 
the  scoyie  of  these  surveys  except  as  specifically  noted. 

Toivn — a  center  with  a  population  of  from  2,501  to  5,000. 

Village — a  center  with  a  population  of  from  251  to  2,500. 

Hamlet — any  clustered  group  of  i)eople  not  living  on  farms 
whose  numbers  do  not  exceed  250. 

Open  Country — the  farming  area,  excluding  hamlets  and  other 
centers. 

Coitnfrv — used  in  a  three-fold  division  of  population  included 
in  scope  of  survey  into  Town,  Village  and  Country.  Includes  Ham- 
lets and  Open  Country. 

Tcnvn  and  Country — the  whole  area  covered  by  these  surveys, 
i.  e.,  all  population  living  outside  of  cities. 

Rural — used  interchangeably  with  Town  and  Country. 

Connnunity — that  unit  of  territory  and  of  population  character- 
ized by  common  social  and  economic  interests  and  experiences ;  an 
"aggregation  of  people  the  majority  of  whose  interests  have  a  com- 
mon center.''  Usually  ascertained  by  determining  the  normal  trade 
area  of  each  given  center.  The  primary  social  grouping  of  suffi- 
cient size  and  diversity  of  interests  to  be  practically  self-sufificing  in 
ordinary  affairs  of  business,  civil  and  social  life. 

Neutral  Territory — any  area  not  definitely  included  within  the 
area  of  one  community.  Usually  an  area  between  two  or  more 
centers,  and  somewhat  influenced  by  each,  but  whose  interests  are 
so  scattered  that  it  cannot  definitely  be  assigned  to  the  sphere  of 
influence  of  any  one  center. 

Neighborhood — a  recognizable  social  groujMng  having  certain 
interests  in  common  but  dependent  for  certain  elemental  needs  upon 
some  adjacent  center  within  the  community  area  of  which  it  is 
located. 

Rural  Industrial — pertaining  to  any  industry  other  than  farm- 
ing within  the  Town  and  Country  area. 

78 


APPENDIX  I 

Population — 

Foreigner — refers  to  forcigii-ljejrn  and  nalivc-born  oi  foreign 
parentage. 

N^ew  Aiiiericinis — usually  includes  foreign-born  and  native-born 
of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage,  but  sometimes  refers  only  to  more 
recent  immigration.  In  each  case  the  exact  meaning  is  clear  from 
the  context. 

The  Church — 

Parish — the  area  within  which  the  members  and  regular  at- 
tendants of  a  given  church  live. 

Circuit — two  or  more  churches  combined  under  the  direction  of 
one  minister. 

Resident  Pastor — a  church  whose  minister  lives  within  its  parish 
area  is  said  to  have  a  resident  pastor. 

Pull-fimr  Resident  Pastor — a  church  witli  a  resident  ])astor  who 
serves  no  other  church,  and  follows  no  other  occupation  than  the 
ministry,  is  said  to  have  a  full-time  resident  pastor. 

Part-time  Pastor — a  church  whose  minister  either  serves  another 
church  also,  or  devotes  part  of  his  time  to  some  regular  occupation 
other  than  the  ministry,  or  both,  is  said  to  have  a  ])art-time  minister. 

A^oii-Residenf  Member — one  carried  on  the  rolls  of  a  given 
church  Init  living  too  far  away  to  i)ermit  regular  attendance;  gen- 
erally, any  member  living  outside  the  community  in  which  the 
church  is  located,  unless  he  is  a  regular  attendant. 

Inactive  Member — one  who  resides  within  the  parish  area  of 
the  church,  l.nit  who  neither  attends  its  services  nor  contributes  to 
its  support. 

Net  Active  Membership — the  resultant  membership  of  a  given 
church  after  the  nuiuber  of  non-resident  and  inactive  members  is 
deducted  from  the  total  on  the  church  roll. 

Per  Capita  Contributions  or  F^xpenditures — the  total  amount 
contributed  or  expended  divided  by  the  number  of  the  net  active 
membership. 

Budget  System — A  church  which,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal 
year,  makes  an  itemized  forecast  of  the  entire  amoimt  of  money  re- 
quired for  its  maintenance  during  the  year  as  a  basis  for  a  canvass 
of  its  membershi])  for  funds,  is  said  to  operate  on  a  budget  systeiu 
with  respect  to  its  local  finances.  Tf  amounts  to  be  raised  for  de- 
nominational or  other  benevolences  are  included  in  the  forecast  and 
canvass,  it  is  said  to  operate  on  a  budget  system  for  all  moneys 
raised. 

79 


RURAL  CHURCH  LHE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

Adequate  Financial  System — Three  chief  elements  are  recog- 
nized in  an  adequate  financial  system :  a  budget  system,  an  annual 
every-member  canvass,  and  the  use  of  envelopes  for  the  weekly  pay- 
ment of  subscriptions. 

Receipts — Receipts  have  been  divided  under  three  heads : 

a.  Subscriptions,  that  is  moneys  received  in  payment  of  an- 
nual pledges. 

b.  Collections,  that  is  money  received  from  free-will  ofiferings 
at  public  services. 

c.  All  other  source?  of  revenue,  chiefly  proceeds  of  entertain- 
ments and  interest  on  endowments. 

Salary  of  Mijiisfcr — Inasmuch  as  some  ministers  receive  in  addi- 
tion to  their  cash  salary  the  free  use  of  a  house  while  others  do  not, 
a  comparison  of  the  cash  salaries  paid  is  misleading.  In  all  salary 
comparisons,  therefore,  the  cash  value  of  a  free  parsonage  is  arbi- 
trarily stated  as  $250  a  year  and  that  amount  is  added  to  the  cash 
salary  of  each  minister  with  free  parsonage  privileges.  Thus  an 
average  salary  stated  as  $1,450  is  equivalent  to  $1,200  cash  and  the 
free  use  of  a  house. 


80 


APPENDIX  II 
Tables 

(The  tables  are  given  in  tlie  order  in   which  they  are  referred  to  in 

Chapter  III.) 

I 

DATES  OF  ORGANIZATION  OF  CHURCHES 

Clay     Jennings 

Oldest  Church   Organization 1869         1816 

Newest   Church   Organization 1919         1915 

Number  organized  prior  to  1820 0  5 

1821-1840 0  8 

1841-1860 0  7 

1861-1880 6  11 

1881-1900 18  3 

1901-1920 7  6 

Date   unknown    2  3 

Total    ?>:!>  43 


II 

ANALYSIS  OF  CHURCH  MEMBERSHIP  BY  RESIDENCE  AND 

ACTIVITY 

Clay  Joinings 
Number  of : 

Non-resident    Members    374  818 

Resident   and   Inactive 191  202 

Resident    and    Active 3847  2702 

Total    Reported    Memljership 4412  3722 


HI 

RESIDENT  CHURCH  MEMBERSHIP  BY  AGE  AND  SEX  FOR 

ENTIRE  COUNTY 

Clay  Jennings 

Males  over  twenty-one 28''''^  29% 

Males  under  twenty-one 13  11 

Females   over  twentv-one 41  46 

Females  under  twenty-one 18  14 

100%  100% 
81 


RURAL  CHURCH   LH'E   IX   THE   Mn)DLE  WEST 


IV 

GAIN  AND  LOSS  OF  CHURCHES 
(One  year  period) 

Churches   showing: 

Clay     Jennings 

Net  l<-iss    3  15 

Even   break    9              8 

Net  gain  less  than  5%   2              2 

Nv-t  gain  5%  to  10%   6              4 

Net  gain  over  107'-'   13  14 

Totals    33  43 


V 

CHURCH  GAIN  IN  RELATION  TO  SIZE  OF  MEMBERSHIP 

(For  one  year  period) 

Clay  Jennings 

Xnnibcr       Xiniibsr       Number       Number 


(if  gain-  of  gain- 


Clin  re  lies 

int; 

Cliurehes 

(';;( 

5 

2 

5 

1 

6 

2 

16 

Q 

12 

8 

19 

7 

5 

4 

1 

1 

5 

5 

2 

2 

0  to  25  ... 
26  to  50  . . 
51  to  100  . 
lOrto  150 
Over    150 


VI 

OCCUPATIONS  OF  CHURCH  MEMBERS 

Clay  Jennings 

Retired   Farmers    168  179 

Operating  Farmers   430  607 

Farm   Renters   115  109 

Farm    Laborers    13  19 

Business   or   Professional    237  107 

All   others    492  272 


Totals    1455        1293 

VII 

FINANCIAL  RECEIPTS  OF  CHURCHES 

Cla\  Jennings 

Total    amount    raised $104,352.64  $20,915.01 

Average    per    church 3.162.20  510  12 

Amount  per  active  member 22.82  7.98 

82 


APPENDIX  II 

VIII 

FIXAX'CIAL  SYSTEM  IX  THE  CHI-RCIIES 

Clay  Jennings 

Total   number  of  churches 33  43 

Number   of   churches   wiLh: 

Budget  for  all  monies   12  10 

Budget  for  all  local  expenses    10  11 

Annual  evcry-member  canvass    19  19 

IX 

HOW  THE  CHURCH  DOLLAR  IS  RAISED 

Clay  Jennings 
Amount    raised  : 

By    subscription    $.S4  S.72 

By  collection    09  .22 

By  all  other   methods    07  .05 

Totals     $1.00        $1.00 

X 

HOW  THE  CHURCH  DOLLAR  IS  EXPENDED 

Clay  Jennings 
Expended   for : 

Salaries    of    ministers    $  .34  $  .53 

Missions   and    benevolences    36  .26 

All   other  purposes    30  .21 


Totals    $L00        $1.00 

XI 

CHURCH  PROPERTY 

Number,   Kind   and  Value   of   Buildings   used   for   Church   Purposes 

Clay  Jenninr/s 
Church   Buildings: 

Number    ^2  42 

Total   Value    $183,450  $152,000 

Average   Value    5,732  3,800 

Parsonages : 

Number     23                 4 

Total    Value    85.750  7,000 

Average  Value 3,728  1,750 

Other  Buildings : 

Number     1                 0 

Total   Value    10,000  

Average    Value    

83 


Clav    

N  limber 

of 
Schools 
...     3,2 

Total  Roll 

3366 
3060 

Average 

per 

School 

105 

Jennings 

...     42 

72> 

RURAL  CHURCH  LIFE   IN  THE  MIDDLE  WEST 

XII 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL  EXROLLMENT  AND  ATTENDANCE 

Attendance 
Average    Percent 
Total  per  of 

School         roll 
2023  63  60 

1573         37  52 


XIII 

SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES 

Clay     Jennings 

Numl)cr  of   Sunday   Schools 32  42 

Num]jor  open  all  the  year 30  36 

Numher  of   Schools   with: 

Special  Leadership  Training 3  1 

Organized   Classes 13  12 

Cradle   Roll    12  13 

Home  Department   3  5 

Teacher   Training    1  3 

Sunday  School  Papers   28  34 

Library    5  4 

Graded  Lessons    17  10 


XIV 

NUMBER  OE  OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS  IX  THE  CHURCHES 

C7(jy  Jennings 
Number     Members      Number     Members 

Glen's   2                80  1                 40 

Women's  34            1481  31              690 

r.ovs-    2                30  0                 0 

Girls'    4                98  0                 0 

Mixed    26             695  13             530 


XV 

CLASSIFICATION    OE   CHURCHES    ACCORDING   TO    RESIDENCE 

OF  MINISTERS 

Clay  Jennings 
Numher  of  Churches  having: 

Alinisters    resident    in   parish 21  6 

Non-resident    ministers    8  29 

No  minister  4  8 

81 


APPENDIX   11 


XVI 

COMMUNITIES  W  ITII    UI'LATIOX  TO  RESIDEN'CE  OF 

MINISTERS 

Clay  Jciiiiiiifjs 
Communities  with  : 

Full-Lime    Resident   Ministers    5  0 

Part-time   Resident   Ministers    .'' 1  2 

Full    and    Part-time    Resident    Ministers 2  1 

No   Resident   Minister    4  11 

Totals 12  14 


XVII 
VARIATION  IX  SALARIES  PAID  MINISTERS 


Range  of  Salaries 


$    500  or  less.. 

510  to  $    750 

751  to     1,000 

1,001  to     1,250 

1,251  to     1,500 

1,501  to     1,750 

1,751  to     2,000 

Over  $2,000... 


Clay  Jctiniiigs 

Pastors  (jiviiuj    Pastors  witli  Pastors  (jiving    Pastors  unth 

full  time                other  full  time                 other 

to  ministry         oecnt'otion  to  ministry         occupation 


Totals 


1 
0 
1 
3 
4 
10 
1 
3 

23 


1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 


1 

6 

1 

0 

2 

3 

3 

3 

2 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

10 


12 


Note:  $250  allowed  as   salary   value   of   free  parsonage   where   furnished. 

XVIII 

RANGE  OF  SALARIES  PAID  MINISTERS 

Cla\  Jennini/s 

Maximum    salarv    paid $2,950.00  $1,850.00 

Minimum   salarv   paid    467.00  180.00 

Average  salar}-  paid 1,608.00  919.00 


85 


APPENDIX  III 

Par  Study  of  the  Churches 

One  of  the  developments  growing"  out  of  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  was  the  adoption  of  the  so-called  "Par  Standard  for 
Country  Churches."  This  standard  was  worked  out  and  approved 
by  the  Town  and  Country  Committee  of  the  Home  Missions  Coun- 
cil, and  was  sul)mitted  to  a  large  group  of  the  survey  workers  of 
the  Interchurch  World  Movement  representing  every  state  in  the 
Union.  These  persons  had  all  done  field  survey  work  and  were 
familiar  with  the  varieties  of  conditions  existing  in  America.  It 
should  also  be  stated  that  in  addition  to  investigational  experience 
these  men  had  been  country  ministers  arid  knew  intimately  the 
])roblems  of  the  rural  parish.  There  was  unanimous  agreement 
that  this  Par  Standard  should  be  placed  before  the  country  churches 
of  America  not  as  an  ideal  far  Ijcyond  their  accomplishment  but  as 
a  goal  which  a  churcli  might  in  all  reasonableness  expect  to  attain. 
Since  that  time  one  denomination  and  the  home  mission  department 
of  a  strong  division  of  another,  have  adopted  the  Par  Standard  with 
slight  ada])tations  for  their  own  purposes. 

It  should  be  stated  that  no  attem])t  has  been  made  to  give  com- 
parative value  to  the  ])oints  in  this  Standard.  So  far  as  the  table 
shows,  a  resident  pastor  on  full-time  counts  as  much  as  horse  sheds 
or  parking  space.  Obviously,  this  is  a  weakness  in  the  Standard, 
but  it  was  drawn  u])  not  for  the  jnirposes  of  comparative  evalua- 
tion but  for  the  purposes  of  suggesting  nn'nimum  achievements  for 
an  average,  strong,  country  congregation. 

The  points  covered  in  this  Par  Standard  for  Country  Churches 
and  the  standing  of  the  churches  in  the  two  counties  studied  are 
given  in  the  following"  tables. 


86 


APPENDIX    III 


Clay   County,    Iowa 


Number  of    Proportion 


Pastor 


Parish 


Adequate 

Physical 

Equipment 


Finance 


ISIectintrs 


Up-to-date  Parsonage   

Adequate  Church  Audilorium  Si)ace. 

Social  and  Recreational  E(|uipmcnt.. 

Well  Equipped  Kitclien 

Organ  or  Piano 

Sunday  School   Koonis 

Stereopticon  or  Moving  Picture 
^Machine     

Sanitary  Toilets   

Horse  Sheds  or  Parking  Space 

Property  in  Good  Repair  and  Con- 
dition     

Resident   Pastor    

Full  Time  Pastor  

Service  Every  Sunday   

Minimum  Salary  of  $1,200   


Religious 
Education    "• 


Annual  Church  Pnidget  Adopted  An- 
nually  

Every   Member   Canvass 

Benevolences  Equal  to  257(i  Current 
Expenses   

Cooperation  with   Other  Churches   in 

Connnunity   

Systematic  Evangelism  

Church  Serves  All  Racial  and  Occu- 
pational   Groups    

Sunday  School  Held  Entire  Year.  .  . 
Sunday  School  Enrollment  Equal   to 

Church    Membership    

Attempt  to  Bring  Puiiils  into  Church 
Special       Instruction       for       Church 

[Membership     

Teacher  Training  or  Xormal  Class.. 
Provision      for      Special     Leadership 

Training    


Churches 

of 

Aiiszvering 

Possible 

Affirma- 

Affirmative 

tively 

Ausi^'ers 

25        ] 
?,2 

5 

16 

.       60% 

4 

30 

31 

21 
16 
27 

-       67% 

25 

20 

18 

-       53% 

12 

30 

13 

18 

10 
1 


387o 


Program 

of   Work      "^ 


L 


Organized  Activities  for  Age  and 
Sex   Groups    

Cooperaiion  with  Boards  and  De- 
nominational Agencies   

Program  Adopted  Annually,  25'/'  of 
Membership  Participating  

Church   Reaching  Entire  Community 


1 
26 


\      41% 


The  ei.ght  points  left  blank  cannot  be  answered  definitely  from  the  data 
on  schedules  used  in  this  survey. 


87 


RURAL  CHURCH   LH'E   IN   THE   CUDDLE  WEST 


Jennings   County,    Indiana 


Adequate 

Physical 

Equipment 


Pastor 


Finance 

Meetings 
Parish 


Religious 
Education 


Program 
of  Work 


Up-to-date    Parsonage 

Adequate   Church  Auditorium   Space 

Social    and    Recreational    Equipment 

Well    Equipped    Kitchen 

Organ   or  Piano 

Sunday  School  Rooms 

Stereopticon  or  Moving  Picture 
Machine     

Sanitary  Toilets   

Horse  Sheds  or  Parking  Space 

Property  in  Good  Repair  and  Con- 
dition     

Resident   Pastor    

Full   Time    Pastor 

Service  Every  Sunday 

^    Mininnun  Salary  of  $1,200 


NiDiihcr  of  Proporlion 

Churches  of 

Anszvcring  Possible 

Affirma-  Affirmative 

lively  Answers 

5 
41 

5 


Annual  Church  Budget  Adopted  An- 
nually    

■<{      Every   Member  Canvass    

Benevolences  Equal  to  25%  Current 
Expenses     

r     Cooperation  with  Other  Churches  in 

<  Community  

t     Systematic    Evangelism    

j     Church  Serves  All  Racial  and  Occu- 
i         pational    Groups    

Sunday  School  Held  Entire  Year... 

Sunday  School  Enrollment  Equal  to 
Church  Membership    

Attempt  to  Bring  Pupils  into  Church 

Special  Instruction  for  Church  Mem- 
bership    

Teacher  Training  or  Normal  Class.  . 

Provision  for  Special  Leadership 
Training    

Organized  Activities  for  Age  and 
Sex  Groups  

Cooperation  with  Boards  and  De- 
nominational Agencies   

Program  Adopted  Annually,  25%  of 
Membership    Participating    

Church  Reaching  Entire  Communitv 


10 

33 
28 

6 

4 

20 

4 


14 
19 

18 


35 

13 

20 

2 
3 


1 

35 


40% 


20% 


397c 


28% 


y       42% 


The  eight  ])oints  left  blank  caimot  be  answered  definitely   from  the  data 
on  the  schedules  used  in  this  survev. 


88 


UNIQUE  STUDIES  OE  RURAL  AMERICA 
TOWN  AND  COUNTRY  SERIES         TWELVE  VOLUMES 

MADK   undi;r  the  dirkction  of 

Edmund  deS.  Brunner,  Ph.D. 

What  the  Protestant  Churches  Are  Doing  and  Can  Do 
for  Rural  America — The  Results  of  Twenty- 
six  Intensive  County  Surveys 

(1)  Church     and     Community     Survey     of 

Salem    County,    N.   J Ready 

(2)  Churcli     and     Community     Survey    of 

Pend    Oreille    County,    Washington         Ready 

(3)  Church     and    Community     Survey    of 

Sedgwick   County,   Kansas    Ready 

(4)  Religion  in  the  Old  and  New  South..  Forthcomir.ij 

(5)  The  Old   and   New   Immigrant  on  the 

Land,    as    seen    in    two    Wisconsin 

Counties     Ready 

(6)  Rural     Church     Life     in     the     IMiddle 

West     Ready 

(7)  The     Country     Church      in      Colonial 

Counties      Ready 

(8)  Irrigation  and  Religion,  a  study  of  two 

prosperous  California  Counties   ....  Ready 

(9)  The  Church  on  the  Changing  Frontier         Ready 

(10)  The  Rural  Church   Before  and   After 

the    War,    Comparative    Studies    of 

Two    Surveys    Forthcoming 

(11)  The     Country     Church     in     Industrial 

Zones    Forthcoming 

(12)  The  Town  and  Country  Church  in  the 

United  States  (Summary  Volume)..         Forthcoming 

"They  arc  fine  fieces  of  work  and  examples  of  what  we  need  to 
have  done  on  a  large  scale." — Dr.  Charles  A.  Ellwood,  Dept.  of 
Sociology,  University  of  Missouri. 

"I  am  heartily  appreciative  of  these  splendid  results" — Rev. 
Charles  S.  Macfarland,  Gcnl.  Secy.,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in   America. 

Published  by  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY,  New  York 

FOR 

COMMITTEE  ON  SOCIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  SURVEYS 

111     FIFTH     AVENUK,     Ni:\V    YORK 


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